Our progression has been from a narrative, first-order experience of God to reflections on that narrative. We now take a further step to thinking theologically, toward a credo. A credo is the thoughtful expression of what one believes most deeply and is prepared to act on. John Cobb makes a helpful distinction between “avowed beliefs” and “real beliefs,” between “beliefs that Christians avow because they think they are Christian and the ones that constitute their real convictions.”7