The Role of the Catechism in Spiritual Formation

So learn Christ as to be found in him
Photo: Ron Nickel / designpics.com
By Sue Careless
SOME OF THE BEST opening lines in Western literature can be found not just in novels like Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities – “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times” – but in the historic catechisms of the Christian Church. Look, for instance, at these two classics:
What is the chief end [purpose] of man?
Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.
First question and answer in The Shorter Westminster Catechism
What is your only comfort in life and death?
That I am not my own but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ….
First question and answer in The Heidelberg Catechism
But just what is a catechism? Children learn language by echoing or repeating what they hear. The word Catechism comes from the Greek katecheo, which means “to resound”

