Truly Learning the Catechism

By Rev. Daniel G. O. Burhop

Theology is truly learned by living in the Word of God. Sadly, this message is not transmitted to many of our seventh and eighth grade catechumens. The catechism is often seen as a textbook that we master by memorization. After graduating at confirmation, the student either moves past the catechism to what he or she thinks is next (as if moving from addition and subtraction to multiplication and division), or, as is the case for most, forgets it altogether. The catechism is then put on a shelf throughout high school, and perhaps packed up in a box and transferred to the next bookshelf at college.

If this is the story of your catechism, as it was for mine, I urge you to take it down from the shelf, dust it off, and open it up. The truth is that your confirmation was not the day you graduated from the catechism; in reality, it was the day you began to live it. If you don't want to believe me, listen to Luther:

I, too, am a doctor and a preacher-yes, and as learned and experienced as any of those who act so high and mighty. Yet I do as a child who is being taught the Catechism. Every morning, and whenever else I have time, I read and recite word for word the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Psalms, etc. I must still read and study the Catechism daily, yet I cannot master it as I wish, but must remain a child and pupil of the Catechism, and I do it gladly. (Preface to Luther's Large Catechism)

Every time I teach the catechism (and in so doing, become a pupil of it again) more and more of it comes to life. Living life, and seeing life, through catechismal lenses forms the young and old theologian in ways that abstract theology never does. The core teachings of Scripture, that is, the six chief parts of the catechism, are not a class to be passed and forgotten as you move on to greater works. The catechism is our life in Christ. It condemns us and kills us, yet gives us life in Christ. It brings Christ to us. Luther wrote, "It is not many books that make men learned, nor even reading. But it is a good book frequently read, no matter how small it is, that makes a man learned in the Scriptures and godly" (Luther's Works 44:205). The catechism is a good small book. Read it, and live in it, frequently.

Rev. Daniel G. O. Burhop is pastor of University Lutheran Chapel in Boulder, Colorado.