Children’s Catechisms: Improving the Fit for Different Ages

Guest Article by Cedric A. Halvorson In this article I offer a review and comparison of: My First Catechism. ISBN 978-0-7586-0790-4 (Blue Cover)My First Catechism. ISBN 978-0-7586-6849-3 (White Cover)Luther’s Small Catechism for Kids. ISBN 978-0-7586-6732-8 (Red Cover) This is offered from my experience as a teacher and parent. I am a father of four (ages 2, 6, 9, and 12), and have taught grades K-12 for 15 years. The original…

Vicarious Satisfaction in Explanations of Luther’s Small Catechism

Summary This article briefly sketches the orthodox Christian doctrine of Christ’s redemption by vicarious satisfaction; briefly sketches heretical denial of vicarious satisfaction by popular Lutheran theologians; and exhibits how the Lutheran church has taught the truth of vicarious satisfaction across synods and centuries in North America in explanations of Luther’s Small Catechism. With interesting variations of language, and coming originally from German, Norwegian, and English sources, they all teach the…

Minute Messages: Gospel-Filled Devotions for Every Occasion — Reviewed

Upshot It is amazing what God’s Word can do in one minute. Citation Richard, Matthew, Minute Messages: Gospel-Filled Devotions for Every Occasion, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2021 Outline Citation Executive Summary Author Plan of the Book Strengths of the Book Folding It In Executive Summary We already have many devotional books. Even so, I am grateful to Pastor Richard and CPH for bringing us this new one and urge you…

Reactions to “Catechesis: The Quiet Crisis.”

Here are some comments and questions from Lutherans on Facebook when they saw the post on LutheranCatechism.com titled, “Catechesis: The Quiet Crisis, in Three Parts, at Brothers of John the Steadfast.” [See Part 1 , Part 2, or Part 3.] I was an adult confirmand and don’t even remember hearing the word catechism. I think the LCMS was afraid they were looking too Roman Catholic at that time. That is quite alarming for a…

FREE: Catechesis for Life: Liturgy, by Rev. Dr. John W. Sias

Catechesis for Life: Liturgy is a series of 23 mini studies on the parts of the Divine Service. As the first study says: The Church has developed the structure of the Divine Service over the past two millennia to serve the grace of God in Jesus Christ, to be received by faith. If it is “simply what we do,” or if we think that by doing it without understanding (or…

FREE: Catechesis for Life: Catechism, by Rev. Dr. John W. Sias

Catechesis for Life: Catechism is a series of 42 mini studies on Luther’s Small Catechism. Most of the studies refresh the text of a small section of the Catechism and present a relevant excerpt from Luther’s Large Catechism. Additional studies address special topics like faith, the source of faith, the connection between doctrine and prayer, the fear of the Lord, God’s initiative in loving us first, the three ecumenical creeds,…

Why republish Luther’s Liturgical Criteria by Bryan D. Spinks

Excerpt from the Publisher’s Preface Drink from it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. By these words, did Jesus give the Church a sacrament, or did He require from us a sacrifice? What is a testament? What did Jesus want us to receive? How does that affect the way to administer the Sacrament? Luther…

Touching Fire in Iron: Baptism and Communion

When you touch a piece of iron that is lying in the forge and glowing, you touch not mere iron but fire which burns. Even if you see no fire but only iron (just as it is not seen to glow by day as much as by night), it is nevertheless not only iron but both iron and fire. In fact, it is so permeated by fire that nothing is…

Baptism Bibliography for the English-Reading Layperson

Buchanan, Colin, A Case for Infant Baptism, rev. ed. (Cambridge: Grove Books Limited, 1984). Chemnitz, Martin, “Original Sin” in The Doctrine of Man in the Writings of Martin Chemnitz and Johann Gerhard (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2005). Das, A. Andrew, Baptized into God’s Family: The Doctrine of Infant Baptism for Today (Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1991). Farmer, William R., The Last Twelve Verses of Mark (London and New York:…

Fathers, your influence is built into nature. Nurture it.

[Photo of Sahar Sadlovsky Gold and child used by permission of Sahar Sadlovsky Gold. Thank you!] The child is with her father. He holds her in his lap. He looks at the Book of Concord. She looks at the Book of Concord. She cannot read. Don’t be so sure. She might not be reading the Book of Concord yet, but she is reading her father. She is reading her importance…

For Us: Sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty

Sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty What does this mean? For us. Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father for us. It means that, having received authority from the Father, Christ is Lord to help his saints. As Dr. Luther says: He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. I believe that he ascended into heaven…

Ten resources added to Documents Library at LutheranCatechism.com; Articles, Theses, Dissertation

Added to the Documents Library, these articles, theses, and dissertations: Krause, Richard A. “Remember the Saxon Visitation: Devotional Modeling for Christian Families,” Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology, vol. XVI, no. 4 (Reformation 2007), pp. 21-28 Nordling, John, “The Catechism: The Heart of the Reformation,” Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology, vol. XVI, no. 4 (Reformation 2007), pp. 5-14 Bode, Gerhard, “Knowing How to Live and Die: Luther and the…

Catechetical preaching to Army basic training soldiers — Dissertation

Would be very interested in getting my hands on a copy of this: Preaching Martin Luther’s Small Catechism at The Fort Knox Lutheran Service Author David Karl Jacob, Erskine Theological SeminaryFollow Date of Award 5-7-2007 Document Type Major Applied Project Degree Name Doctor of Ministry (DMin) Department Practical Theology First Advisor Michael Bush Abstract The United States Army provides religious support to its soldiers through Army chaplains. The soldiers who…

“Forming the Faith Today through Luther’s Catechisms” Added to the Documents Library at LutheranCatechism.com

We have added Wengert, Timothy, “Forming the Faith Today through Luther’s Catechisms,” Lutheran Quarterly, vol. XI, pp. 379-396 (1997) to the Documents Library. From the beginning of the article: Do we, who are American Christians of the Lutheran tradition in the waning years of the twentieth century, know what Luther’s Small Catechism is? I do not think I knew until 1990. . . . [A]lthough I knew its content and…

Reu’s Classic Work on Catechetics Added to Documents Library at LutheranCatechism.com

We have added Reu, M., Catechetics or Theory and Practise of Religious Instruction (Chicago: Wartburg Publishing House, 1918) to the Documents Library. Paul I. Johnston, said of this book: One of the great educational classics of early twentieth-century American Lutheranism was Johann Michael Reu’s Catechetics, or Theory and Practice of Religious Instruction. By the time it appeared in its third edition in 1931 it was a 658-page manual on the…

Memorizing the Catechism: False Dichotomy between Words and Meaning or, How to Forget the Faith

When I was a child, we already had the Small Catechism memorized before we entered confirmation instruction. We recited portions in Sunday School from about the third or fourth grade onward. We recited all portions in Vacation Bible School year after year. By the time we entered confirmation instruction, we had recited it at church well over a dozen times. Then, when we entered confirmation instruction, we continued to recite…

The Catechism as a Tool for Prayer added to Documents Library at LutheranCatechism.com

We have added an important article by John T. Pless to the Documents Library. Pless, John T., The Catechism as a Tool for Prayer, Caring Connections, vol 13, no. 4, pp. 23-27, 2016. The first paragraph: We are most accustom to think in terms of studying the Small Catechism or learning it by heart but rarely do we hear Luther’s language of praying the Catechism. The Catechism functioned, for Luther,…

The Catechism: A Handbook for Times of Persecution added to Documents Library

We have added a powerful article by John T. Pless to the Documents Library. Pless, John T., “The Catechism: A Handbook for Times of Persecution,” The Lutheran Witness, May 2017, pp. 6-7. Luther’s Small Catechism is a multipurpose tool. Not only is it a brief summary of Christian doctrine and a guide to the Christian’s life of prayer and vocation in the world, it is also a book of comfort….