Monday, September 15, 2025

It is the 15th of September 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

It is Monday the 15th, and so I must be somewhere nearing Geneva on the Reformation Tour- the number of emails with good questions was overwhelming (and usually is), and so we will spend some more time this week with various mailbag questions scattered in and amongst regular shows….

Gail in Colombia, South Carolina, wrote in (the Palmetto State is rocketing up the charts in terms of listeners!) about her grandson, who is going through “Catechism,” which she remembers as a part of her Catholic upbringing, despite her grandson going to a non-Catholic (in this case, Presbyterian church).

Let’s start with the word. It comes from “kata” meaning “downward” and “echein” which means to “resound”. So a Catechism is like an echo- something “resounding down” or “echoing out”. It’s a term used eight times in the New Testament- 4 by Paul and 4 by Luke. It’s in Luke 1 when he writes to Theophilus that he has written his Gospel “so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been 'Katecheo' or 'Catechized' or 'Taught”.

Traditionally, this took place as preparation for Baptism- you were to be “taught” the essentials. Thus, the first “Catechism” after the Scriptures is the Didache, the famous book on the teachings of the church (especially those things needed for Baptism).

Throughout the Middle Ages, we have various examples of local “catechisms,” sometimes written, sometimes not. But the general gist can be seen in the Lambeth Council in 1281 that instructed priests to teach the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles’ Creed, the 7 Vices, Virtues, and Sacraments, etc…

It was Luther’s famous Catechism of 1529 (predating the first Confession of faith by one year) that set two Protestant Catechetical traditions. The first was stripping the various virtues and vices bits to keep the Commandments, Prayer and Creed and the second was producing 2 versions of the Catechism- the “shorter” and the “longer” designed to be an introduction for children or the unlearned and then the longer designed to take you deeper into the ideas and the various bible texts that support the teachings. 

One of the things that Luther’s catechism also did to set the template for Protestant catechism was to make it not only the purview of the priest, but also explicitly for the “head of the household,” and the education was to be for all, and continual (even after Baptism, you would still go back to them for instruction).

It should be noted that Catechisms, small or large, were not meant to be the same as Confessions. They worked in tandem, such that Luther’s Catechism could work with the Augsburg Confession of the following year, and the Westminster Catechisms (small and large) can go with the Westminster Confession of Faith.

Catechisms and Confessions will go hand in hand, especially during this age of… wait for it… “confessionalization” after the Reformation. So we have our Catholic, Reformed, and Lutheran Catechisms. And if you are in any of these traditions and have been “catechized,” you may be able to fill in the blanks… let’s play.

A good Lutheran will read that the first Commandment is “You Shall No Other Gods” and will read Luther’s initial and ubiquitous question: “What… Does This Mean?” (Was ist Das? Antwort:) and the response: “that we should fear, Love, and Trust God above all things” and you’re off…

1563’s Heidelberg Catechism leads off with a bang- question 1:

1. What is your only comfort
   in life and in death?

1. That I am not my own,
but belong—
   body and soul,
in life and in death—
   to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
   He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
   
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.

   He also watches over me in such a way
   
that not a hair can fall from my head

   without the will of my Father in heaven;
   
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

And the later Westminster Catechism (which followed Luther in having a larger and smaller) begins memorably with the question: “What is the chief end of Man?” And responds that "To glorify God, and enjoy Him forever”… enjoy? I thought those Puritans were buzzkills!

I think Catechisms are great! Of course, test all things against Scripture- and the best catechisms give you the scriptures to check what they are teaching. Good luck to your grandson, Gail. And for more fun stuff for faith instruction for youth, check out our friends at storymakersnyc.com- longtime friends of 1517.

 

 The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and the last bit of Psalm 79:

When my heart was grieved

    and my spirit embittered,

I was senseless and ignorant;

    I was a brute beast before you.

Yet I am always with you;

    you hold me by my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,

    and afterward you will take me into glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you?

    And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

    but God is the strength of my heart

    and my portion forever.

Those who are far from you will perish;

    you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

But as for me, it is good to be near God.

    I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;

    I will tell of all your deeds.

  

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 15th of September 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who knows Columbia is one of the few American cities with a full-time koala permit…  he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who knows Columbia has been called soda city- but only because it goes by “Cola” for short… underwhelming… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.