ROUGHLY EDITED COPY CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY EDUCATION NETWORK CUENET LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS 2-4 DR. ROBERT KOLB CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY: CAPTION FIRST, INC. P.O. BOX 1024 LOMBARD, IL 60148 800-825-5234 *** THIS TEXT IS BEING PROVIDED IN A ROUGH DRAFT FORMAT. COMMUNICATION ACCESS REALTIME TRANSLATION (CART) IS PROVIDED IN ORDER TO FACILITATE COMMUNICATION ACCESSIBILITY AND MAY NOT BE A TOTALLY VERBATIM RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS. *** LC2-4 >> GOOD MORNING, DR. KOLB. MY NAME IS NICK. IN THE AREA OF THE COUNTRY WHICH I SERVE, CENTRAL LA, I WOULD BE HARD PRESSED TO IDENTIFY ONE DENOMINATION OR ANOTHER AS BEING PREDOMINANT. ALTHOUGH, IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD, I SUPPOSE MOSTLY WE SEE BAPTISTS, PENTECOSTALS AND CATHOLICS. I OFTEN FIND MYSELF COMPARING OUR LUTHERAN PRACTICE AND FAITH WITH THESE GROUPS. DO OTHER CHRISTIANS SUCH AS THESE HAVE CATECHISMS, TOO? >>DR. ROBERT KOLB: YES, INDEED THEY DO, NICK. IT'S VERY INTERESTING THAT, AS I SAID, THROUGHOUT WESTERN EUROPE THERE WAS "A" CATECHISM IS AN EXAGGERATION. BUT THERE WERE SEVERAL CATECHOLS IN USE NOT AS A BOOK AS SUCH, ALTHOUGH THERE WERE SOME PRINTED CATECHISMS BY LUTHER'S TIME. BUT THERE WERE SEVERAL PROGRAMS OF INSTRUCTION ALL REVOLVING AROUND THESE FOUR BASIC PARTS OF THE CATECHISM. WHEN LUTHER HAD SUCH SUCCESS WITH HIS CATECHISMS, THEN OTHER PEOPLE DECIDED THEY NEEDED CATECHISMS, TOO. ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS EFFORTS AT WRITING A CATECHISM IN 16TH CENTURY GERMAN WAS THE EFFORT OF A ROMAN CATHOLIC NAMED PETER KINESIAS, WHOSE CATECHISM WAS ON A SOMEWHAT HIGHER LEVEL. IF LUTHER'S CATECHISM WAS MADE FOR FIRST, SECOND, THIRD GRADERS, FOURTH GRADERS, THAN KINESIAS'S CATECHISM WAS PERHAPS MADE FOR 10TH, 11TH, 12TH GRADERS. BUT HIS CATECHISM BECAME AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE EFFORT TO AT LEAST TRAIN THE LEADERSHIP, THE PROMINENT CITIZENS OF THE TOWNS, THE NOBLEMEN IN THE LATTER HALF OF THE 16TH AND IN THE 17TH CENTURY. OTHER GROUPS IN GERMANY ALSO WROTE CATECHISMS, THE MOST FAMOUS IS THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM WRITTEN BY FOLLOWERS OF JOHN CALVIN IN THE CITY OF HEIDELBERG, WHICH WAS ONE OF THE FIRST GERMAN CITIES AND AREAS TO BECOME CALVINIST. AND THEN THROUGHOUT THE NEXT 3-, 400 YEARS GROUPS OF ALL KINDS WROTE THESE BASIC FUNDAMENTAL ORIENTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN LIFE AND CHRISTIAN FAITH SO THAT I THINK ALMOST ALL DENOMINATIONS WOULD HAVE SOMETHING SIMILAR TO THE CATECHISMS THAT LUTHER WROTE. LUTHER HIMSELF DIDN'T JUST WRITE ONE CATECHISM. IN THE EARLY 1520S HE WANTED HIS COLLEAGUES TO BE WRITING A CATECHISM. BUT I THINK IT WAS A LITTLE HARD TO GET ALONG WITH LUTHER SOMETIMES. YOU NEVER COULD DO IT QUITE RIGHT WHEN HE KNEW EXACTLY HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE. SO TWO OR THREE OF HIS STUDENTS OR FELLOW PROFESSORS IN VITENBERG ACTUALLY TRIED TO WRITE A CATECHISM IN THE 1520S. AND FINALLY IN 1528, HE BECAME IMPATIENT. HE HAD JUST BEEN VISITING THE VILLAGES IN THE COUNTRYSIDE AROUND VITENBERG FOR THE ELECTOR OF SECRETARIES. SAXONY. AND HE FOUND SUCH MISERABLE SPIRITUAL CONDITIONS THAT HE SAID, "WE'VE GOT TO DO SOMETHING NOW. WE'VE GOT TO START EDUCATING THE YOUNG PEOPLE IN OUR CONGREGATIONS." SO HE REPEATED WHAT HE HAD DONE FROM TIME TO TIME FOR MORE THAN A DECADE. HE PREACHED ON THE CATECHISM. LIKE THESE MEDIEVAL CATECHETICAL PREACHERS I JUST MENTIONED, LUTHER JUST STOOD IN THE PULPIT IN VITENBERG AND GAVE CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION TO THE PEOPLE, HAD STUDENTS TAKE NOTES AND THEN HE DIGESTED HIS NOTES. AND IN EARLY 1529, HE PREPARED WHAT WE MIGHT SAY WAS A BIG WALL CHART. I THINK WE SHOULD DO THAT TODAY SO THAT WE CAN -- WE CAN PIN IT ON THE REFRIGERATOR SO KIDS WOULD HAVE TO READ SOMETHING FROM THE CATECHISM EVERY TIME THEY WOULD GET A SNACK. AND THEN AFTER THAT HE PREPARED WHAT WE MIGHT CALL A KIND OF TEACHER'S MANUAL, THE LARGE CATECHISM. AND AFTER THAT, THEN THE SMALL CATECHISM, THE PRIMER, THE TEXTBOOK THAT PROBABLY WASN'T PERCENTAGEWISE SO OFTEN PUT IN STUDENTS HANDS AS SIMPLY TALKED TO THEM SO THAT THEY WOULD LEARN IT BY HEART. BECAUSE WE HAVE TO REMEMBER, IN 1528, '29 THE VAST MAJORITY OF GERMANS COULD NOT READ OR WRITE. SO THE SMALL CATECHISM IS DESIGNED FOR MEMORIZATION SO THAT PEOPLE, MANY OF WHOM WOULD NEVER LEARN TO READ AND WRITE, WOULD HAVE THE BASICS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. FIFTY YEARS LATER WHEN ONE OF THE AUTHORS OF THE FORMULA OF CONCORD, JACOB ANDREAE, WAS PREACHING TO HIS PEOPLE ABOUT TALKING ABOUT THEIR FAITH TO ROMAN CATHOLICS OR SCHAVALINGIANS (PHONETIC) OR SCHAVINGFELDER (PHONETIC), HE REMINDED THEM THAT NOT ALL OF THEM COULD READ THE BIBLE BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO READ OR WRITE. BUT THEY COULD REMEMBER THE CATECHISMS. SO THAT WAS THE CASE FROM 1529 ON WHEN LUTHER WROTE HIS CATECHISMS. WE JUST HAPPEN TO HAVE IN THE RARE BOOK ROOM AT CONCORDIA SEMINARY IN ST. LOUIS AN ORIGINAL EDITION OF THE LARGE CATECHISM. AND YOU SEE HERE IT'S ACTUALLY CALLED THE GERMAN CATECHISM OF 1529. AND IN ITS PAGES WE HAVE WHAT ARE ACTUALLY SERMONS THAT LUTHER REVISED FROM THE SERMONS HE PREACHED FROM THE PULPIT. SO THAT PASTORS AND PARENTS WHO COULD READ COULD ACTUALLY TAKE THE CATECHISM IN HAND AND EXPAND ON WHAT THEIR YOUNG PEOPLE HAD LEARNED. AND SO LUTHERANS COUNTED THE CATECHISMS OF LUTHER AS VERY BASIC TO THEIR FAITH. AND IN 1580 WHEN THEY GATHERED THE DEFINING DOCUMENTS, THE LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS INTO THE BOOK OF CONCORD, WHICH WE HAVE HERE IN A COPY THAT ACTUALLY BELONGED TO CFW WALTHER. AND THE COVER PAGE SHOWS THAT IT HAS BEEN WORN PRETTY BADLY. THIS ONE HAS ACTUALLY BEEN RESTORED. BUT IN ITS PAGES THE CATECHISMS CAN BE FOUND. AND THAT WAS PART OF THE DEFINING TEXT FOR PASTORS AND FOR THE PEOPLE OF LUTHERAN CHURCHES THROUGHOUT GERMANY, SWEDEN, FINLAND AND OTHER LANDS. AND OF COURSE THAT'S TRUE IN OUR WORLD TODAY. THE LUTHERANS DIDN'T JUST STOP THERE, THOUGH. THEY WENT ON TO FOLLOW LUTHER'S ADVICE. IF YOU READ THE PREFACE TO THE SMALL CATECHISM. HE SAID WE NEED OTHER CATECHISMS, AS WELL. IN THE 17TH CENTURY, ONE MAN PARTICULARLY STANDS OUT AS THE AUTHOR OF A NUMBER OF CATECHETICAL HELPS. HIS NAME WAS CONRAD DIETRICH. HE WAS A PASTOR IN SOUTH GERMANY. AND HE PREPARED NOT ONLY THIS CATECHISM BUT HE ALSO PREPARED BOOKS ON HOW TO TEACH THE CATECHISM FOR PASTORAL STUDENTS. AND IN THE WORKS OF CONRAD DIETRICH WE HAVE A TRADITION THAT GOES DOWN TO THE 21ST CENTURY BECAUSE HIS CATECHISMS, HIS FORM FOR CATECHIZATION, INFLUENCED TEACHING IN THE MISSOURI SENATE. IT WASN'T JUST A MATTER OF INSTRUCTING STUDENTS IN THE CONTENT OF THE BIBLICAL MESSAGE FOR OUR FAITH IN LIFE. LUTHERANS ALSO USED THE CATECHISM AS A TEXT FOR TEACHING THE LANGUAGES. AND IN THIS PARTICULAR BOOK FROM THE LATE 16TH CENTURY, WE HAVE THE CATECHISM IN GREEK AND LATIN SO THAT STUDENTS COULD LEARN GREEK AS WELL AS LATIN IN SECONDARY SCHOOL BY LEARNING THE TEXT OF THE CATECHISM OR BY REVIEWING PROBABLY AT THAT POINT IN THEIR EDUCATION THE TEXT OF THE CATECHISM. SO YOU SEE, NICK, OVER FOUR CENTURIES LUTHER'S CATECHISMS HAVE BEEN USED BY LUTHER. BUT LUTHER'S CATECHISMS HAVE ALSO INFLUENCED THE OTHER TRADITIONS, ROMAN CATHOLICS, CALVINISTS, BUT PRACTICALLY ALL OTHER DENOMINATIONS BY BRINGING THEM TO USE SOME FORM OF THE ECHO OF THE CATECHISM OF THE BACK AND FORTH OF CHRISTIAN TEACHERS AND LEARNERS. YOU CAN THINK OF THE ANGLICAN TRADITION AND YOU PROBABLY THINK OF THE PRAYER BOOK. YOU CAN THINK OF THE CALVINIST TRADITION AND YOU MIGHT THINK OF CALVIN'S INSTITUTES. WHEN YOU THINK OF LUTHERANS, THE FIRST BOOK YOU THINK OF IS LUTHER'S SMALL CATECHISM. THAT'S TRUE NOT ONLY FOR US IN NORTH AMERICA, IT'S TRUE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. THIS BOOK HAS REALLY SHAPED OUR FAITH. *** THIS TEXT IS BEING PROVIDED IN A ROUGH DRAFT FORMAT. COMMUNICATION ACCESS REALTIME TRANSLATION (CART) IS PROVIDED IN ORDER TO FACILITATE COMMUNICATION ACCESSIBILITY AND MAY NOT BE A TOTALLY VERBATIM RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS. ***