The Most Perfect Human Compendium of Christian Truth
Yesterday I finished Iain Murray’s biography of theologian John Murray (there is no relation between the two Murrays) and was struck by John Murray’s insistence on the importance of memorizing the catechisms. I was raised on a steady diet of the Heidelberg Catechism at church and the Shorter Catechism at home and can attest to their value. Murray, being a product of Scottish Presbyterianism, was an ardent supporter of the Shorter Catechism and once said this to a group of children:
Now everyone of you children should know the Shorter Catechism from the beginning to the end without a mistake by this age. Now that’s without joking at all. At the age of twelve you ought to know the Shorter Catechism from beginning to end without even making a mistake. You don’t know what you are missing! Get down to learning it, if you haven’t already learned it! It will not only give you the most perfect human compendium of Christian truth that there is in the whole world, but it will be the finest mental exercise, and it will lay a foundation in your mind and in your life for a hundred other things as well as for true religion. The mere mental discipline of learning it with exactness down to each preposition is one of the best disciplines that we know of in this world in the field of education. The primary reason is to learn it for the purpose of having in your mind a comprehensive compendium of Christian truth, but even apart from that there are a hundred by-products. It will be invaluable to you through your whole life, and not only in this life, but in the life which is to come.
I’ll grant that Murray may have been speaking in some hyperbole when he said that the Catechism is “the most perfect compendium of Christian truth that there is in the whole world,” but I do believe it is a wonderful and valuable summary of Christian doctrine. At this point my oldest child is seven and he does not yet know his catechism. We worked through some of the Children’s Catechism based on the Shorter but did not do all that much of it in the end (primarily, I’ll admit, because the book was so tiny that it kept getting lost!). I do hope, in the future, to work through one catechism or another with the children. I’m sure they’ll hate doing it just as much as I did, but I am confident that as they grow older they will be grateful (as I am now) that their father insisted upon it.
How about you? Do you teach your children to memorize a catechism? Do you consider this an integral part of teaching and training your children? If so, what catechism do you use or do you intend to use?
Comments (17) »
1. Scott Lamb
September 16, 2007
6:24 PM
We use the Baptist Catechism that is part of the Truth and Grace booklets produced by Founders Press. The boys enjoy them.
2. Nath @ Reformed Geek
September 16, 2007
6:43 PM
I’m really interested in this Tim, and look forward to reading the comments. As I was raised an atheist, with no religious influence, since becoming a father, I am now finding myself having to learn how to be a Biblical father. Family Worship, Catechism memorization etc are all new concepts to me. I have read a lot of stuff on Family Worship of late, and have been trying to implement them.
So readers, keep the comments coming - I’m all ears (or is that all eyes).
3. Jim
September 16, 2007
8:11 PM
Ooooo, weird. My kids (3 and 6) and I were just sitting down and learning some of the (a) catechism right before I read your post.
We just started reading a book called Big Truths for Little Kids by Susan Hunt, Richie Hunt, and Nancy Munger, which is written around a children’s catechism. Actually, we’re also reading The Big Picture Story Bible by David Helm and Gail Schoonmaker, and the two seem to be working well together so far (we got a book for each of the kids, the picture Bible for the younger one).
So far so good. I didn’t really memorize a catechism as a child, but as I grew older I did become familiar with a catechism that our denomination used. Very helpful.
4. Jennifer Partin
September 16, 2007
8:13 PM
Hi Tim, We use the catechisms in our home. We have 5 children who are currently memorizing at the moment. My oldest is 11 and my youngest is 2. We start them at the age of 2 (you will be amazed at what they can memorize) and we use the Catechism for Young Children for them. At about age 5, we start memorizing the Westminster Shorter Catechism in Modern English. We do nothing fancy—-I just read and they repeat. We work on a new question a week and sometimes we squeeze in two. We do change the section on Baptism (we are Baptist) We work on the Catechisms daily—-they recite from beginning to the present question they are working on. A great tool that we use in the evenings to enforce what we have learned is “Training Hearts and Teaching Minds” by Starr Meade. It is a Family Devotion Book based on the Shorter Catechism (especially good for dads who are a little unsure in how to explain and expound on the questions they are memorizing) Our oldest has completed her memory of the Catechism and so we have started “Systematic Theology” By Wayne Grudem (another great stepping stone after having completed the Catechism) with her. I hope this helps someone. Jennifer
5. Agrigal
September 16, 2007
8:40 PM
I grew up memorizing Martin Luther’s catechism, and I can wholeheartedly agree with Tim that a catechism is very valuable to know as an adult. As our child was growing up we attended a church that didn’t go by a catechism. So he didn’t learn that, but he did memorize many Bible verses. We taught our son Bible verses as we threw a bean bag back and forth across the room. We had a lot of fun memorizing verses; it doesn’t have to be a boring time.
6. Andrew
September 16, 2007
9:02 PM
I think the forced catechism memorization may have been one of the things that turned my mother away from her Reformed upbringing - at least that’s how she talks about the experience. She and my dad are now Arminian-Baptist, but I am more Reformed-Baptist (we still get along just fine).
Should I ever have the privilege of raising kids, would it be wise to teach them one of these catechisms if they have no interest in learning it? I don’t want every second generation of my family resenting Reformed theology!
7. Kristina
September 16, 2007
9:17 PM
I just started working my way through My First Book of Questions with my four year old, and I’m hoping my two year old is picking some of it up b/c she’s in the room when we do it.
8. alan
September 16, 2007
9:25 PM
We use “Truth and Grace”-TAG books, by Tom Ascol with our 3 year old. She loves it so far and when I tell her to “go get her TAG book” she runs to get it…we don’t spend too much time or she gets tired of it, we repeat the verses and the questions for about 5 minutes. She can repeat, at this time, 2 short verses from it and 5 questions. We just started recently. I also use “A Baptist Catechism” by John Piper for our older kids at church on Sunday nights.
9. Tim
September 16, 2007
9:27 PM
I spent four years in a Bible College and then three years in Seminary and never read nor heard of the Confessions or Catechisms until I was finished with both and in my thirties.
To this day, the question: What is the chief end of man and the answer; Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
stands out in my mind as one of the most profound statements that I have ever heard or read.
I learned more about Theology, Worship and Obedience from this statement than I did from seven years of Biblical education.
One might conclude that either my education was poor or my interest in learning was lacking but neither is the case. I attended institutions that weren’t reformed and concentrated on man-centered issues and ministries. I had courses in Counseling, Pre-marital Counseling, Marital Counseling, Post-marital Counseling and Crisis Counseling. The instructor who taught all the marital counseling courses got divorced after I completed the final course in the series.
I had history courses and comparative religion courses and evangelism courses, where I learned to take surveys and ask people if they thought they were going to heaven or hell and then present them with the four spiritual laws.
I spent three months with a mission in Colorado and three months with a mission in Honduras and in both places our main concern was building buildings and providing food and medicine. I never once saw the missionary in Colorado open his Bible until Saturday night. He had his Bible and several books with sermon outlines. I asked him if he didn’t feel the need to study more and he told me that the people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. I never saw the missionary in Honduras open his Bible.
I have the first two questions of the Heidelberg Catechism taped to the bulletin board above my desk. I read them every morning and I never tire of contemplating: (a) how great my sins and miseries are; (b) how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries; and (c) how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.
In my opinion, there is a lifetime of knowledge and wealth in those two documents. Soli Deo Gloria.
10. Joe Fleener
September 16, 2007
10:45 PM
I have a six year old, 4 ½ year old and a nearly 3 year old.
We are nearly finished with Unit 1 of Small Talks on Big Questions by Selah Helms and Susan Thompson.
We go through on lesson a week. Each lesson has three to five questions (all from the Baptist Catechism) with one story from Scripture to illustrate each set of questions and one story from church history to illustrate each set of questions.
Each of the stories contains Scripture passages and follow-up questions.
At this point we are not going through the follow-up questions with our children due to their age. I plan to do that at a later time when we go through the book again in a few years.
Monday: (This all happens after Breakfast, it takes at most 30 minutes, usually much less.)
We start on Monday with a new lesson.
I ask all the questions and they give all the answers we have covered so far.
Then I read each new question and state each answer three times (my wife has been a great help in this discipline). Then I ask the question and we all say the answer together.
Once I have gone through all the questions and answers in this lesson in that way, we then go through all the questions and answers together where I ask the questions and we give the answer together.
Then I read the Bible story which illustrates the new set of questions.
We may interact on the story a bit and answer any questions they have. (i.e. Today my four year old son asked why Hagar called the angel she was talking to Lord and God! Awesome question – great time of interaction!)
We read the related Scriptures and then each of us prays for our day.
Tuesday:
We review the new set of questions and answers.
We review all the questions and answers covered so far. (I do this with them at other times as well – during bath time, while setting the table for Tea (dinner for all those in North America), etc.)
We then work on our memory verse for the week, then each of us prays for our day.
Wednesday:
We review the new set of questions and answers.
We review all the questions and answers covered so far.
I read the story from Church History from the book illustrating the new set of questions.
We work on our memory verse for the week, then each of us prays for our day.
Thursday:
Thursday’s I am not home for breakfast as I am at a Men’s Bible Study…
So at Tea we…
We review the new set of questions and answers.
We review all the questions and answers covered so far.
We work on our memory verse for the week, then each of us prays for our day.
Friday:
We review the new set of questions and answers.
We review all the questions and answers covered so far.
We work on our memory verse for the week, then each of us prays for our day.
Saturday:
This day can vary quite a bit as we are often out of town when I am preaching at other churches on the weekend.
However, at a minimum I will go over the questions and answers with them while we are out and about.
Sunday:
This day can vary quite a bit as we are often out of town when I am preaching at other churches on the weekend.
However, at a minimum I will go over the questions and answers with them while we are out and about.
Our kids love it!
We are stoic or boring with this. I let them get excited with the answers, sometimes they yell out the answers, etc. No worries, as long as they are under control and I can understand the answer.
We try to make it fun and not a boring exercise.
To be honest I am already seeing small steps of growth in my two eldest’s thinking and the types of questions they are asking about God! It is very exciting.
11. Mark
September 16, 2007
10:56 PM
Our family uses:
The Baptist Catechism Set to Music by Jim Scott Orrick
that Founders puts out. Murray may think this is cheating because it is so easy, but we just let it play in the background of our car. We’ve had it for about a month now, and I think I have about all of the questions memorized (still working on the specifics of the Lord’s Prayer questions at the end). My son isn’t old enough to talk yet, but I know this will be one of the methods we use. My only complaint is that this version of the catechism (Charleston Association in 1813) doesn’t have “The Chief End of Man” question, but that doesn’t mean our family can’t make up our own tune for it!
Someone needs to contact Orrick to put the Catechism up for sale on iTunes!
12. Sean
September 16, 2007
11:07 PM
My wife, 8-year old daughter, and I are about to begin using “A Puritan Catechism” compiled by Charles Spurgeon, found at http://www.spurgeon.org/catechis.htm . Since I was not catechized as a child, I’m not sure how to go about it, but I’m thinking of getting “Training Hearts and Teaching Minds” by Starr Meade, as has been mentioned already, as a supplement. I’m looking forward to not only teaching my daughter these wonderful truths, but it will no doubt help solidify them in my and my wife’s minds, and help us in articulating the truths we believe. I made a simple little 12-page booklet out of Spurgeon’s Catechism using MS Publisher, if anyone would be interested in having it. If so, email me at scripturedriven(AT)hotmail.com and I’ll be glad to send it on.
13. Gordon Cheng
September 17, 2007
9:35 AM
Why memorize a “most perfect human compendium” when you can memorize the book of Romans (which is even more perfect)? That’s what I’m working on, with varying degrees of success, with my 3 girls.
14. William Dicks
September 17, 2007
10:13 AM
Hi Tim,
I was raised a Charismaniac, but thankfully God led me to the doctrines of grace back in 1998. However, we have not used any type of catechism at all. I am more of a Reformed Baptist now. Be that as it may, I would like to know what would be a good catechism, especially for my children.
Any ideas?
15. Kim K
September 17, 2007
12:15 PM
I was raised in an Rca Church and learned the Heidelberg Catechism. Several months ago I “suggested” to my family that we were learning the Shorter Catechism using the book by Starr Meade. My kids at home range in age from 6 to 16. At first they thought I was nuts but they have really taken to the memorization. I’m encouraged. Husband and I are finding out that 40-somethings can also memorize !
Regarding #6 above - raising kids is all about doing things they have no interest it - at least much of the time.
16. Carol
September 17, 2007
4:57 PM
I’ve been considering getting Brannon Howse’s “Building a Christian Worldview Verse by Verse” http://www.worldviewweekend.com/secure/store/product.php?ProductID=483 I like that the answers are scripture verses rather than man-created answers. If they’re going to memorize something, let it be the scriptures. Dh and I have lots of experience in Bible quizzing programs and have seen first hand the life-long benefits of scripture memorization. No way you’re going to convice me that it’s an antiquated way of teaching children : )
The unappealing thing about the Howse book (to me) is that there seems to be a bit of political agenda to it (just looking at the questions), rather than simply theological. I’m not that familiar with the other catechisms, so I’m not sure if the others do as well.
17. Steve
September 18, 2007
5:20 PM
I have five children (from 13 to infancy). Throughout their entire lives we have practiced family worship consistently. As their ages have changed, so has our approach. For the past few years, we have read through the entire Bible out loud together on a reading plan together. It has helped to ground them in the overall picture of the Bible.
This past year we have read through the Bible according to the plan written by Robert Murray M’Cheyne, and reading the comments of D. A. Carson on the readings in his book, “For the Love of God.” We plan on reading through volume 2 next year as we read the Bible again next year.
Regarding memory work, we are currently memorizing 1 Peter as a family. We are in the first few verses of chapter 3 now. We tackle a few verses every week. This has been a great joy for all of us. For help in memory, I am indebted to a little brochure written by Dr. Andrew Davis entitled, “An Approach to the Extended Memorization of Scripture,” which was handed out at the Together for the Gospel 2006 conference. You can read it here: http://www.fbcdurham.org/FCKeditor/editor/plugins/mediamanager/get.php?id=101