Added to the Document Library:
Charles P. Arand, Luther’s Catechism as a Map for Life’s Journey, Reformation & Revival, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 49-60, Spring 2001.
From the beginning of the article:
At the dawn of the twenty-first century the church increasingly faces questions about what it means to be Christian within a culture that is characterized by a smorgasbord of non-Christian religious options. Half a century ago, Bible stories were a basic part of the wider American culture and could be found in movies, books, literature, and public conversation. That is no longer the case today. Children are not being formed at home in how to worship or to pray. Adults have little to no Christian memory even from childhood. As a result, those approaching the church or who are standing on the front porch of the church today are literally at square one in their knowledge and understanding of what it means to be a Christian. Instead, they live in a universe of religious options and are becoming eclectic and syncretistic in their spiritual lives. They will adopt a little of this and a little of that. They live in a world of thirty second soundbites, brief commercial slogans, catch-words, and bumper sticker theology.
In this context the climate may be ripe for recovering and rediscovering the catechism’s value for the church.