ROUGHLY EDITED COPY CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY EDUCATION NETWORK CUENET LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS 2-6 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. *** LC2-6 >>THE EDITION OF LUTHER'S SMALL CATECHISM WHICH WE USE IN OUR EVERYDAY INSTRUCTION HAS BEEN PUBLISHED BY CONCORDIA PUBLISHING HOUSE. ARE ALL THE WORDS IN THE BLUE BOOK WRITTEN BY LUTHER? >>DR. RICHARD KOLB: ACTUALLY, JOSH, THEY ARE NOT. THE PART THAT LUTHER WROTE IS JUST THAT VERY -- THOSE VERY FEW PAGES AT THE BEGINNING WHICH PRESENT THE TEN COMMANDMENTS WITH LUTHER'S EXPLANATIONS, THE CREED WITH LUTHER'S EXPLANATIONS, THE LORD'S PRAYER, BAPTISM, CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION, THE LORD'S SUFFERING, THE PLANS FOR DAILY DEVOTIONS AND WHAT WE ALWAYS USED TO CALL THE TABLE OF DUTIES. IN THE NEW TRANSLATION OF 2000, IT'S CALLED THE HOUSEHOLD CHART. THAT'S JUST A LITTLE EARLY TRANSLATION OF THE GERMAN. I LIKE TO CALL IT THE CHART OF CHRISTIAN CALLINGS. AND THEN IN EARLY EDITIONS OF LUTHER, THERE WAS ALSO HIS MARRIAGE BOOKLET AND HIS BAPTISMAL BOOKLET. AND THAT WAS ALL THAT LUTHER PREPARED. BUT YOU HAVE TO ALSO RECOGNIZE THAT CONCORDIA PUBLISHING HOUSE'S EXPANSION OF THE CATECHISM CERTAINLY IS IN COMPLIANCE WITH LUTHER'S WISHES AND HIS PLANS. HE SAYS ALREADY IN THE PREFACE TO THE SMALL CATECHISM THAT OTHERS WOULD HAVE TO DEVELOP ANOTHER LEVEL OF CATECHETICAL INSTRUCTION OR MORE THAN ONE CATECHETICAL INSTRUCTION. AND AMONG HIS FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS, THAT HAPPENED ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. A MAN NAMED YOHAN SCHWANGENBERRY (PHONETIC) WHO WAS A REFORMER IN THE CITY OF NORDHAUSEN BY 1542 HAD PREPARED SOMETHING LIKE WHAT WE HAVE IN THE CATECHISM YOU'RE USING. A SERIES OF QUESTIONS BOTH ON THE SMALL CATECHISM AND THEN FOR MAYBE A HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL INSTRUCTION ON THE LARGE CATECHISM. AND THOSE QUESTIONS THEN TAKE STUDENTS MUCH MORE DEEPLY AND IN MORE DETAIL INTO THE BIBLICAL TEACHING. AND OF COURSE, AS TIMES HAVE CHANGED THROUGHOUT LUTHERAN HISTORY, NEW CULTURAL SITUATIONS HAVE DEMANDED NEW KINDS OF EXPLANATIONS, NEW WAYS IN WHICH WE ADDRESS THAT BASIC CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION TO OUR PEOPLE'S LIVES. SO CONRAD DIETRICH, WHOM I MENTIONED A FEW MOMENTS AGO, DID A SIGNIFICANT EXPANSION OF LUTHER'S QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR THE 17TH CENTURY. AND THE 19TH CENTURY ONE OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE MISSOURI SENATE, HENRIQUE SCHWAN (PHONETIC), ADAPTED THAT FOR USE IN NORTH AMERICA. THE CATECHISM I USED WAS DEVELOPED AROUND 1943 AS AN ADAPTATION AND OBVIOUSLY AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THOSE EARLIER QUESTIONS BY SCHWAN. AND THE BOOK THAT YOU'RE USING WAS DEVELOPED SOME 40 YEARS LATER TO BRING THE MESSAGE OF THE SMALL CATECHISM, WHICH IS THE MESSAGE OF SCRIPTURE ACTUALLY TO PEOPLE LIKE THOSE YOU'RE TEACHING. AND THAT'S NOT THE ONLY VERSION, OF COURSE, THAT'S AVAILABLE. THERE HAVE BEEN A NUMBER OF CATECHISMS THAT PEOPLE HAVE DEVELOPED OUT OF THE TEXT OF LUTHER'S SMALL CATECHISM FOR USE IN DIFFERENT CULTURES AROUND THE WORLD AND IN NORTH AMERICAN CULTURE, AS WELL. SO LUTHER GAVE US THE FREEDOM. HE ACTUALLY GAVE US THE COMMISSION I WOULD SAY TO, QUOTE, "IMPROVE," UNQUOTE, ON HIS SMALL CATECHISM. I DO THINK, HOWEVER, THAT THAT BASIC STRUCTURE OF LAW AND GOSPEL AND CHRISTIAN LIFE IS AN EXCELLENT STRUCTURE FOR OUR INSTRUCTION TODAY. *** 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. ***