“Mercy! Good God! what manifold misery I beheld! The common people, especially in the villages, have no knowledge whatever of Christian doctrine, and, alas! many pastors are altogether incapable and incompetent to teach … Yet they [do not understand and] cannot [even] recite either the Lord’s Prayer, or the Creed, or the Ten Commandments”
— Martin Luther, “Preface” in The Small Catechism 0.1
Encore Post: Luther was shocked and dismayed. His prince had sent him and his friends on a mission to go throughout Saxony and see what needed to be done to reform the church. There was no bishop who came over to the Reformation to provide care for the people, so the prince had to act. Luther knew the everyday people were badly educated — but he didn’t know how bad it was. He had instructed his friends to write catechisms to help fathers and priests teach the people. He was not at all satisfied with their work and it clearly was not working. So he produced two Catechisms — the Large Catechism for pastors and fathers learn how to teach children and the Small Catechism for the children to memorize.
Luther produced two classics. The Small Catechism revolutionized Christian education of children — even beyond Lutheranism, resulting in basic catechisms for children appearing in all denominations. Wherever the Lutheran Church and its missions went in the world, the Small Catechism soon followed. As soon as the Bible appeared in a new language, the Catechism and the liturgy were sure to soon follow. It is among the most translated works in Western civilization. When the first Missouri Synod Lutherans emigrated to America, among the essential books packed in the trunks were the Bible, the Catechism, a prayer book, a hymnal and a book of sermons. Wherever the Missouri Synod organized congregations, they would immediately set up schools — sometimes multiple schools — where at first the pastors would teach, you guessed it — the Catechism, the Bible and then other subjects. As soon as a congregation could afford it, they would also call a school teacher.
The Small Catechism was so popular because it was so basic. It taught the bedrock doctrines needed to live a Christian life — the Ten Commandments and with it God’s law in its three uses; the Creed and with it the Gospel which saves us and gives us the power to live the Christian life and the Lord’s Prayer, and with it the building of a life centered around Jesus. He also translated these treasures into the child’s native language, so they could comprehend them. He then explained them carefully, sweetly in easily memoizable words. He did all this without using combative language. The result is that even non-Lutherans cherish the Small Catechism.
Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana
©2019 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com
I agree, and the event of learning the Catechism should be a good learning event, not drudgery, as some experience it. To that end I have, as a long time presenter of religious materials, taken a shot at doing the Small Catechism as a visual learners’ experience. Since 65% of all learners learn best when it is a visual teaching experience, why not the SC? This presentation combines, the spoken word, the visual word and the read word. All of that is enhanced with introductory context material to give a brief history of the SC itself, Wittenberg and links to supporting historical and graphical materials. Classical art is scattered though out in appropriate places to add emphasis.
As a young adult convert some 57 years ago I still recall how abrupt my pastor taught the SC. I had no idea of the “why of it” or anything that went with it that added any kind of context.
To abate this problem I have taken the SC and made a PowerPoint presentation out of it, which allows the addition of historical context, links to additional resources, and classical art to enhance the visual learning process. It is noted that 65% of a learners are visual learners, so why not give them good visuals? This is my attempt to change that dynamic. Ask me by email at churchmatters@frontier.com for a demo of the presentation.
Sounds workable. Too bad we can’t teach the SC in German. Much more compact, simple, memorable and profound.