The Church Catechism
Our English word catechism comes from a Greek word which means “to make hear,” or “to instruct.” The first English Book of Common Prayer in 1549 contained a service of “Confirmation, wherein is contained a catechism for children.”
The idea of instructing new believers is as old as the faith itself. In the ancient Church, adult converts would be admitted as “catechumens” and participated in a formal process prior to baptism which could last as long as three years—culminating in their baptism, confirmation and first communion on Easter Eve.
After the fifth century, when infant baptism had become the norm, the Church recognized the need for educating the faithful as to the meaning of their baptism. Various copies of “instructions” survive which all share a common core: whether ancient or modern, Roman Catholic or Protestant, all emphasize the need for the faithful to learn and understand the meaning of The Lord’s Prayer, The Ten Commandments, and The Creed. This understanding of the basic core of Christian teaching survives in the 1928 American Prayer Book not only in the Catechism itself, but also in the charge to parents and godparents in the service of Holy Baptism (pp. 277).
The word catechism first became a noun during the Reformation in the sixteenth century. What once had referred to the process of instruction, now became applied to a text—the body of information taught. Leading Reformation catechisms still in widespread use include Martin Luther’s Shorter Catechism in the Lutheran Churches (1529); the Heidelberg Catechism among Calvinists (1563); and the Westminster Catechism among Presbyterians (1647). The question and answer form was a popular means of conveying the truths of the faith; for example, the Westminster Catechism contains the famous exchange: “What is the chief end of man?” “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever.”
With the invention of the printing press in the previous century, the reformers took advantage of the new technology to spread their doctrines throughout Europe via the publication of their catechisms. Rome was actually behind the curve—producing a number of catechisms in response to the Protestants efforts. The most famous of these being the “Roman Catechism” issued by the council of Trent in 1566.
The Church of England was unique in including a catechism within an authorized service book, rather than as a separate tract. Shorter than other Reformation-era catechisms, the original 1549 work described the meaning of baptism, the Apostles’ Creed, the Trinity, the Ten Commandments, our duties to God and neighbor, and the contents and meaning of the Lord’s Prayer.
This first Anglican catechism was appended in 1604 to add a section on the sacraments which included the classic Anglican definition of a sacrament as “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” This revised catechism appears in the standard 1662 Prayer Book in England and is almost identical with the one that we have in the Prayer Books in our pews today (1928 BCP, pp. 577-583). Read it!