Instructing in the Faith: Catechesis
- Keith Stanglin
- 24 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Keith D. Stanglin
The Journal of Christian Studies fall issue, 5/3, is coming soon! The theme of this issue is catechesis: instruction in the Christian faith. In a time of declining biblical and theological literacy, and in our post-Christian world, teaching the faith is perhaps more important now than at any time in the church's history.
The issue focuses on these questions: What is catechesis, and why is it important? How can churches more effectively catechize their youth and their adult converts (and what differences might be reflected in catechizing adults vs. children and youth)? What do Scripture, history, theology, and sociology have to say about these questions? This issue, as a whole, provides thoughtful reflection and even practical guidance on the nature of catechesis, the need for it, and wise steps toward realizing and executing it in church and home.
Below is the editor's note for JCS 5/3.
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Editor's Note:
In her book, Scripture, the Genesis of Doctrine (2023), Frances Young writes, “Christianity began life looking less like a religion and more like a school.” Anyone familiar with early Christian history knows this to be the case. First, with regard to the “less like a religion” aspect, “religion” is itself a contested category when applied to the ancient world, but let’s just say that, unlike pagan worship, Christian faith was not tied to a particular culture or what it believed to be a regional god that was the patron of one ethnic group. Their God was universal, superseding all others—in other words, a strict monotheism. That has to do with expressed belief. In practice, more visibly and so more important to outsiders, their monotheism excluded polytheistic worship; Christians not only would not participate in pagan sacrifice and ritual, but they did not offer their own animal sacrifices either. To outsiders, Christians rejected the gods and many features of what would be called religion, and so these outsiders called Christians “atheists.”
Second, Young says Christianity was “more like a school.” In addition to the distinctive features I just mentioned, such as monotheism and no animal sacrifices, Christians were called “students”; μαθητής (mathetes), traditionally translated as “disciple,” simply means student, someone undergoing a discipline. As such, from its inception, one of the features that distinguished the Christian movement from the surrounding, traditional pagan religions was the emphasis on doctrine. There was no corresponding instruction for the pagan faithful. To the average resident of the Roman Empire, it didn’t matter much what one held privately, as long as the right gods were rightly honored with the appropriate sacrifices and rituals. To be a devotee of Zeus or Apollo or Artemis, there was no test of beliefs or morals. One was born into devotion to the respective deities of one’s city and empire. You showed up when necessary to bring a sacrifice and pay lip service to the gods, and the head of the household carried on whatever household sacrifices were necessary. But the gods were not so interested in your ethics, much less in your personal understanding of the gods and of reality. Doctrines and morals were the stuff of the philosophical schools, not really of religion, except maybe for the high priests and intellectuals.
People became Christians, however, by choice. They were responding to the gospel, the good news, of what God has done in Jesus Christ. It was a response that involved one’s entire being, including the intellect. Christians referred to their society as the Way, a path to follow, with its emphasis on knowing the truth. Many early Christians thought of this journey as the pursuit of philosophy—the true philosophy.
Christianity had a creed, and not a particularly short one. It required a basic understanding for beginners, and it invited the initiated believers to seek greater understanding. Faith is trust in God, believing in God, but it also includes believing things about God, about his intentions for his people. Trusting God entails knowing things about him and his works. And so there is a content to faith—what the New Testament comes to call “the faith.” Contend for “the faith” (Jude 3). If the faith has content, and if it can be understood and professed and articulated, then it can and must be explained. Be ready for a “defense” of this hope (1 Pet 3:15). That is, understand it, and have something to say. Even worship, potentially very ritualistic and even emotional, for Christians, was not madness or ecstasy but must involve the mind or understanding (1 Corinthians 14).
Christianity was for students; being a student was a requirement for being a Christian, part of the initiation process. In the early church, part of the initiation rite, preceding baptism, was catechesis, oral instruction in the doctrines and morals and liturgies of this Way. Theophilus had been instructed or catechized (κατηχέω, katecheo) in the faith (Luke 1:4).
In this issue of the Journal of Christian Studies, we mean catechesis broadly. It is basic instruction in the Christian Way of being, saying, and doing. Proper catechesis is for hearers—that is, seekers of truth, the not-yet-believers. But this instruction is also for the faithful, inasmuch as they still need the basic instruction. In addition, it is for the catechists, the teachers in churches, who must know the content of the faith.
Teaching is, arguably, the most important ministry of the church. One way to determine which one thing (among many things) is most important is to consider what would be the consequences if this one thing were taken away. Without the teaching ministry—that is, communicating the riches of the faith to those who don’t yet know, including among ourselves, our children, and those not-yet-believers—without teaching, or with poor teaching, there will soon be no church, no Christianity, and thus no carrying on of any of the church’s ministries. Thus the importance of the call and responsibility of Bible class teachers.
Despite its obvious importance, the education ministry is neglected in many churches, sometimes in favor of other, more exciting pursuits. A full-orbed catechetical program may seem beyond the reach for some churches to execute. In many churches, however, there remains a mechanism for revitalizing instruction in the faith: Sunday school.
For five years now, the Center for Christian Studies has been laboring to equip teachers in churches, teachers of teachers. This issue of JCS, which completes our fifth year of the journal, is dedicated to this same purpose. What is catechesis, and why is it important? How can churches better catechize their youth and their adult converts? Our desire for this journal issue, as a whole, is to provide thoughtful reflection and even practical guidance on the nature of catechesis, the need for it, and wise steps toward realizing and executing it in church and home.
Keith Stanglin
Editor
