Beloved,
It is unfortunate that when most American evangelicals hear the word “catechism” today, they either scratch their heads in confusion or assume we are capitulating to Roman Catholicism. This shows just how far we have departed from our roots. Historically, it was Rome that copied the practice of catechism from the Lutheran and Reformed churches after witnessing how beneficial such a teaching tool was. Before catechesis was a Roman Catholic thing, it was first a Protestant thing (the first RC catechism being approved in 1566 at the Council of Trent—after Luther’s catechism, Calvin’s catechism, and the Heidelberg Catechism, among others).
But the Reformers weren’t doing anything new. From at least the mid-fourth century, the church used catechism to instruct people in the faith. For example, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of Nyssa, and Augustine all wrote their own catechisms for the church. Givens Strickler explains, “Teaching, by the catechetical method, has marked the history of the church almost from the beginning down to the present time.” If we have forgotten catechesis, it is because we are ignorant of our history.
But that begs the question—what is “the catechetical method”? Catechism derives from the Greek verb katecheo, which means “to teach.” It refers to a particular method of teaching that utilizes questions and answers to succinctly and systematically instruct in the doctrines revealed in Holy Scripture. Through memorization, both children and adults learn the basic truths of the faith, protecting them from erroneous teaching and equipping them to grow in and share their faith.
Our forefathers spoke with one voice in affirming the vital importance of catechetical instruction in the church. Calvin, writing to the Lord Protector of England, confessed, “Believe me, Monsignor, the Church of God will never be preserved without catechesis.” The Puritan John Owen asserted, “After the ordinance of public preaching of the Word, there is not, I conceive, any more needful ordinance than catechizing.” Let that sink in. Even if we push back and say that prayer and the sacraments are more needful than catechizing (which I think we should!), it is striking that a pastoral luminary like Owen would place such weight on a practice so sorely neglected in our day. Writing of the church in the 20th century, John J. Murray laments, “We believe it is to the discontinuance of this practice of catechism that we can trace much of the doctrinal ignorance, confusion and instability so characteristic of modern Christianity.”
During the European Reformation, many catechisms were written by both the Lutheran and Reformed churches. But by far the most widely used catechism in the English-speaking world was The Westminster Shorter Catechism, the result of the painstaking work of some of the greatest theological minds the world has ever known. It was published in 1648 and has played a very important role in Presbyterianism in Europe and North America to the present day. B. B. Warfield said of it, “No other Catechism can be compared with it in its concise, nervous, terse exactitude of definition, or in its severely logical elaboration; and it gains these admirable qualities at no expense to its freshness or fervour.”
Since the Lord has brought many brothers and sisters together at Cornerstone from different ecclesiastical backgrounds, it seems most fitting for us to spend some months (years?) unpacking and applying this compact treasure trove of biblical truth and familiarizing ourselves with one of our church’s doctrinal standards. I encourage you to consider committing it to memory—and having your children do the same—as we work through its 107 questions together. I’ll be including videos of the catechism put to music to assist you in this (don’t worry, it won’t be me singing!).
For those with young children, I leave you with the words of Presbyterian missionary Robert Nassau, as he explains from personal experience the value of memorizing the catechism from the earliest age: “I thus had a reply for any one who objected to children being taught Catechism, on the ground that they could not understand it. Of course, they did not. Neither had I, in my childhood. But memorizing is easy in childhood. With the Catechism in memory it was an advantage to have its splendid ‘form of words’ when I reached an age at which I could understand them.”
Let’s lean into our catechetical roots together as we seek to grow in the grace and knowledge of God in Christ!
Yours in Him,
Pastor Nick