The catechism's question-and-answer format, with a view toward the instruction of children, was a form adopted by the various Protestant confessions almost from the beginning of the
Reformation. Among the first projects of the Reformation was the production of catechisms self-consciously modelled after the older traditions of
Cyril of Jerusalem and
Augustine. These catechisms showed special admiration for
Chrysostom's view of the family as a "little church", and placed strong responsibility on every father to teach his children, to prevent them from coming to baptism or the Lord's table ignorant of the doctrine under which they are expected to live as Christians.
Anglican catechisms The
Anglican Book of Common Prayer includes a catechism. In older editions it is a brief manual for the instruction of those preparing to be brought before the bishop for
confirmation: the baptised first professes his baptism, and then rehearses the principal elements of the faith into which he has been baptised: the
Apostles' Creed,
Ten Commandments, the
Lord's Prayer, and the
sacraments. Catechist: What is your Name? Answer: N. or M. Catechist: Who gave you this Name? Answer: My Godfathers and Godmothers in my Baptism; wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. The "N. or M." stands for the Latin, "nomen vel nomina", meaning "name or names". It is an accident of typography that "nomina" (nn.) came to be represented by "m". The catechism was published in 1604 as a stand-alone document. It was later bound up with the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. This edition holds authority across the
Anglican Communion.
United Kingdom United States The
Episcopal Church's 1928 prayer book included a catechism with offices of instruction, based upon the catechism of the Church of England's 1662 prayer book. The Episcopal Church's 1979 prayer book includes a catechism newly written for the prayer book, intended as "an outline of instruction" and "a brief summary of the Church's teaching". "To Be A Christian: An Anglican Catechism" was published in 2020 by Anglican House Media Ministries, the publishing house of the
Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
Baptist catechisms Keach's Catechism is utilized in many
Particular Baptist congregations. Nondenominational Reformed Baptist preacher
John Piper wrote a commentary on this catechism, publishing it in 1986.
Lutheran catechisms Luther's Large Catechism (1529) typifies the emphasis which the churches of the
Augsburg Confession placed on the importance of knowledge and understanding of the articles of the Christian faith. Primarily intended as instruction to teachers, especially to parents, the catechism consists of a series of exhortations on the importance of each topic of the catechism. It is meant for those who have the capacity to understand, and is meant to be memorized and then repeatedly reviewed so that the Small Catechism could be taught with understanding. For example, the author stipulates in the preface: Luther adds:
Luther's Small Catechism, in contrast, is written to accommodate the understanding of a child or an uneducated person. It begins:
Methodist catechisms ''
The Probationer's Catechism was authored by Methodist divine S. Olin Garrison for probationary members of the Methodist Episcopal Church seeking full membership in the connexion; it has been one of the most widely used catechisms in Methodist history. A Catechism on the Christian Religion: The Doctrines of Christianity with Special Emphasis on Wesleyan Concepts
by Mel-Thomas and Helen Rothwell is another popular catechism used to explicate Wesleyan-Arminian theology. More recent publications are A Catechism Prepared Especially for the Members of the Evangelical Wesleyan Church
(printed in the United States), A Larger Catechism: For Members of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
(printed in the United States), and A Catechism for the Use of the People Called Methodists'' (printed in Great Britain).
Pentecostal catechisms While the Pentecostal movement has no one official catechism or confession, nevertheless Pentecostal authors have produced catechetical works. William Seymour, founder of the Azusa Street revival, included a catechism in the Doctrines and Disciplines of the Azusa Street Apostolic Faith Mission. Assemblies of God minister Warren D. Combs produced a catechism in the 1960s. In 2016 Henry Volk the host of the Theology in Perspective podcast authored a resource entitled, A Pentecostal Catechism.
Quaker catechisms A prominent catechism of the
Religious Society of Friends is
A Catechism and Confession of Faith (1673), published by
Robert Barclay.
Reformed catechisms Calvin's 1545 preface to the
Genevan Catechism begins with an acknowledgement that the several traditions and cultures which were joined in the Reformed movement would produce their own form of instruction in each place. While Calvin argues that no effort should be expended on preventing this, he adds: The scandal of diverse instruction is that it produces diverse baptisms and diverse communions, and diverse faith. However, forms may vary without introducing substantial differences, according to the Reformed view of doctrine.
Genevan Catechism John Calvin produced a catechism while at
Geneva (1541), which underwent two major revisions (1545 and 1560). Calvin's aim in writing the catechism of 1545 was to set a basic pattern of doctrine, meant to be imitated by other catechists, which would not affirm local distinctions or dwell on controversial issues, but would serve as a pattern for what was expected to be taught by Christian fathers and other teachers of children in the church. The catechism is organized on the topics of
faith, law, prayer and
sacraments.
Heidelberg Catechism Source: After Protestantism entered into the Palatinate, in 1546 the controversy between Lutherans and Calvinists broke out, and especially while the region was under the elector
Otto Heinrich (1556–1559), this conflict in
Saxony, particularly in
Heidelberg, became increasingly bitter and turned violent. When
Frederick III, Elector Palatine, came into power in 1559 he put his authority behind the Calvinistic view on the Lord's Supper, which denied the local presence of the body of Jesus Christ in the elements of the sacrament. He turned
Sapienz College into a school of divinity, and in 1562 he placed over it a pupil and friend of Luther's colleague,
Philipp Melanchthon, named
Zacharias Ursinus. In an attempt to resolve the religious disputes in his domain, Frederick called upon Ursinus and his colleague
Caspar Olevianus (preacher to Frederick's court) to produce a catechism. As Hyde writes, "It was intended to do three things: 1) provide a 'fixed form and model' of Christian doctrine for his realm; 2) instruct the youth of the Palatinate in school and church; and 3) enable the pastors and schoolteachers of the Palatinate to preach/teach.The two collaborators referred to existing catechetical literature, and especially relied on the catechisms of Calvin and of
John Lasco. To prepare the catechism, they adopted the method of sketching drafts independently, and then bringing together the work to combine their efforts. "The final preparation was the work of both theologians, with the constant co-operation of Frederick III. Ursinus has always been regarded as the principal author, as he was afterwards the chief defender and interpreter of the Catechism; still, it would appear that the nervous German style, the division into three parts (as distinguished from the five parts in the Catechism of Calvin and the previous draft of Ursinus), and the genial warmth and unction of the whole work, are chiefly due to Olevianus." (Schaff, in. Am. Presb. Rev. July 1863, p. 379). The structure of the
Heidelberg Catechism is spelled out in the second question; and the three-part structure seen there is based on the belief that the single work of salvation brings forward the three persons of the
Trinity in turn, to make God fully and intimately known by his work of salvation, referring to the
Apostles' Creed as an epitome of Christian faith. Assurance of salvation is the unifying theme throughout this catechism: assurance obtained by the work of Christ, applied through the sacraments, and resulting in grateful obedience to the commandments and persistence in prayer. The Heidelberg Catechism is the most widely used of the Catechisms of the
Reformed churches.
Westminster Catechisms , 1785). Together with the
Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), the
Westminster Assembly also produced two catechisms, a
Larger and a
Shorter, which were intended for use in Christian families and in churches. These documents have served as the doctrinal standards, subordinate to the Bible, for Presbyterians and other Reformed churches around the world. The Shorter Catechism shows the Assembly's reliance upon the previous work of Calvin, Lasco, and the theologians of Heidelberg. It comprises two main sections summarizing what the Scriptures principally teach: the doctrine of God, and the duty required of men. Questions and answers cover the usual elements:
faith, the
Ten Commandments, the
sacraments, and prayer.
Other Reformed catechisms Oecolampadius composed the
Basel Catechism in 1526, Leo Juda (1534) followed by Bullinger (1555) published catechisms in Zurich. The French Reformed used Calvin's Genevan catechism, as well as works published by
Louis Cappel (1619), and
Charles Drelincourt (1642).
Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes, written by the
Puritan minister
John Cotton and published in 1656, was the first known children's book published in the United States. ==Non-Christian catechisms==