MARTIN LUTHER’S

Catechisms

Forming • the • Faith

Timothy J. Wengert

Fortress Press

Minneapolis

MARTIN LUTHER’S CATECHISMS

Forming the Faith

Copyright © 2009 Fortress Press, an imprint of Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Visit http://www.augsburgfortress.org/copyrights/ or write to Permissions, Augsburg Fortress, Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440.

Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible are copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America and are used by permission.

Cover image: Photo © Elena Milevska/iStockphoto. Used by Permission

Cover design: John Goodman

Book design: James Korsmo

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wengert, Timothy J.

Martin Luther’s catechisms: forming the faith / Timothy J. Wengert.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8006-2131-5 (alk. paper)

1. Luther, Martin, 1483–1546. Kleine Katechismus. 2. Luther, Martin, 1483–1546. Grosse Katechismus. 3. Lutheran Church—Catechisms—History and criticism. I. Title.

BX8070.L8W46 2009

238′.41—dc22

2008043291

The First Article of the Creed, on Creation: Genesis 1 (God Creating the World)

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

1. Martin Luther’s Contributions to Christian Catechesis

2. Diagnosing with the Ten Commandments

3. Luther’s Down-to-Earth Confession of Faith

4. The Lord’s Prayer and Believers’ Needs

5. Luther, Children, and Baptism

6. The Daily Sacrament of Baptismal Absolution

7. Treasuring the Lord’s Supper

8. The Catechisms as a Vocational School

A Select Bibliography on Luther’s Catechism

Index

Preface

In 1962, I entered seventh grade and began catechetical instruction in the Lutheran Church, which in those days included the memorization of Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. Worse yet, I got a double dose, not only having classes on Saturdays at Gracious Savior Lutheran Church in Detroit from my own pastor, Gerald Labuhn, but also during the week receiving instruction at the Lutheran school I attended from Pastor Paul Faust. As much as the sophistication of Luther’s explanations were lost on me, the memorization did me good, especially when in 1972, in the midst of a crisis of faith, I recalled the words (without immediately being able to remember where they came from), “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true Man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord.” Jesus is my Lord; what a concept!

Beginning in 1974 I taught portions of the Small Catechism to seventh and eighth graders (“Do unto others, as someone has already done to you”) until leaving parish ministry in 1989 for the seminary. Yet, as I will argue in the first chapter of this book, I did not really grasp completely the possibilities of Luther’s catechisms, ...