The Small Catechism

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The Small Catechism is a short text that Martin Luther wrote in 1529 as an introduction to the Christian faith . For centuries it was one of the most important teaching materials not only in the Lutheran churches , but also in public schools in Protestant areas ; even now it is often used in confirmation classes in Lutheran and United churches . In addition to the Confessio Augustana , it is one of the confessional writings in all Lutheran churches , which are the basis of church teaching.

Origin and content

Luther recognized on his visitation trips in 1528 that the church people only knew incomplete knowledge of the Christian faith and the insights of the Reformation. That is why he reworked his own sermons on the subject matter of the catechism for what would later become known as the Great Catechism . Even before this was finished, however, Luther decided to first create very elementary foundations. In January 1529, for example, the first panel prints of the individual catechism pieces appeared, printed by the Wittenberg printer Nickel Schirlenz . In May, one month after the Great Catechism , the entire Small Catechism was published . In the preface, Luther declared that the aim of the book was to give the pastors help with teaching and to give the house fathers a basis for instructing their family members (this also included the servants at the time ) in the Christian faith.

Even before the Small Catechism , there were catechisms that included the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Our Father. Luther expanded the catechism to include the sacraments of Baptism, Last Supper and Confession, so that the Small Catechism covers the following topics:

The small catechism begins with a preface and then deals with the topics in individual sections (main pieces) . The Ten Commandments, the Creed and the Lord's Prayer are listed in full. In addition, they - like the rest of the topics - are briefly explained in question-answer form.

Post-history

The Small Catechism was included in the Book of Concords in 1580 and has been a confessional document ever since. This meant that his wording was canonized in a way . In the time of Pietism and the Enlightenment , more detailed catechisms were usually used for use in teaching, often based on the Small Catechism . It was not until the Neo-Lutheranism of the 19th century and again in the church struggle that the Small Catechism was revalued .

The Small Catechism was not only used in German-speaking countries as an elementary textbook for school lessons, which was used to learn to read and write . Translations of the Small Catechism into the Baltic languages can already be documented for the year 1545 . In the 16th century, translations into Polish, Latvian, Slovenian and also into Swedish appeared. In the 18th century it was translated into Arabic. A Chinese edition appeared in 1843 and a Japanese edition a hundred years later.

Expenses (selection)

  • The Little Catechism. For the common pastor and preacher. Rhode, Marburg 1529 ( digitized version ).
  • Enchiridion. The little catechism. For the common pastor and preacher. Valentin Babst, Leipzig 1547 ( digitized version ).
  • Enchiridion. The little catechism, for the young boys and girls, composed in the simplest way in questionable pieces, with a number of beautiful little prayers . Elberfeld, probably before 1813 ( digitized ).
  • Weimar edition . Volume 30/1. Catechism sermons 1528; Great and Small Catechism . 1910 (historical-critical edition; digitized version ).
  • I am the Lord your God - an introduction to the faith of Christians. Luther's Small Catechism in German and Arabic . Ed .: Evangelical Lutheran Free Church. Concordia-Verlag, Zwickau 2011, ISBN 978-3-910153-69-1 .
  • Irene Dingel (ed.): The confessional writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church: Complete new edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2014, ISBN 978-3-525-52104-5 , pp. 852-911.

literature

  • Albrecht Peters : Commentary on Luther's Catechisms . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1990/94.
  1. The Ten Commandments. Luther prefaces . 1990, ISBN 3-525-56180-6 .
  2. Belief . 1991, ISBN 3-525-56181-4 .
  3. The Lord's Prayer . 1992, ISBN 3-525-56182-2 .
  4. Baptism, the Lord's Supper . 1993, ISBN 3-525-56183-0 .
  5. The confession, the house table, the grape book, the baptismal book . 1994, ISBN 3-525-56184-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rainer Eckert: Old Prussian. In: Miloš Okuka (Ed.): Lexicon of the Languages ​​of the European East. Klagenfurt 2002, pp. 590f.
  2. ^ Hartmut Bobzin: The Arabic and Arabic publications by Johann Heinrich Callenberg. In: W. Beltz (ed.): Translations and translators in the publishing house JH Callenbergs. Hall 1995.
  3. ↑ Irene Dingel: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church: Complete new edition. Göttingen 2014, p. 846, note 18.