Heidelberg Catechism

[THEU]

Have been doing a good bit of study on this recently, and also teaching it at church. Wow, it is just a powerful articulation of some of the basic beliefs of Christianity. I recommend it highly to Christians and non Christians alike.

 

[bevo barry]

Whoa, that is some pretty heavy, intense stuff. It looks like if one could learn that by heart, he/she would be a powerful apologist.

 

[A. BETTIK]

I have not read it but will try to find out more about it.

I read a sort of catechismal scholarly book once on the New Testement 15 years ago.

Chapter after chapter went by. I found myself bootstrapping my math knowledge of Greek letters into learning to pronounce and sound out the greek words and phrases that liberaly sprinkled each page. I still remember my favorite, Theo tokos, or mother of God. And oospas or something about sun rays being a part of the sun or from the sun.

Each chapter strained my brain to the utmost as paragraph long sentences left me short of mental breath. I discovered the author liked to zing the reader at the end of each chapter by presenting final arguments in short modern sentences lthat ended dramatically, definitively and potently with something to say about the New Testement. I felt rewarded and enlightened, even while noticing very little of the New Testement was actually quoted.

Finally the author began expounding on the Trinity in the final chapters and introducing angles to it I had never thought of. I did not know the Holy Trinity had an economy, but quickly grasped that this reflected somewhat more on the how the Three in One interact.

At the end of the book I felt I had actually accumulated some wisdom and so decided to go back and read some of the New Testement. I expeced I would read passages and my new knowledge would provide that final nudge into understanding where the Good News was complcated and murky much as my book was.

Quickly though, I came to realize that the New Testement was very plain in meaning and not hard to grasp or understand. It turns out I didn't need the fancy book. I marveled that an author could write so much in each chapter only to conclude each with what was very apparent in the New Testement.

So onto the Heidelberg Catechism.

 

[Swiffert]

HEISENBERG!!

 

[Perham1]

And a good tech manual is a powerful articulation of how a mac book works....

What does a catechism do except lay out an outline of a man-made theology? And only a particular demonation's one, at that. And the sect in question will probably change things sometime in the future anyway.

Good for you, you've memorized some rules. Now what?

 

[ADMIRALSTOCKDALE]

In reply to:

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[THEU]

perham,
to answer some of your questions.

1) the Heidelberg Catechism wasn't penned by a 'denomination' at all. It was actually written by a group of writers at the behest of a political leader in Heidelberg.

2) You can call it man-made theology if you want. The point of a catechism is to simply ask questions and answers about the very basics of the Christian faith. So in that manner, the point is to convey truths from Scripture (I know, you think that is man made as well) in a concise manner and teach through it for believers and to pass the faith on to the next generation

3) As far as 'my' denomination and the Heidelberg catechism, which is about 450 years old. Technically, 'my' denomination was created in 1968, but it's precursor goes back to the 1700s in England, created from the Anglican church which goes further back, but still wasn't around yet when the Catechism was written. So no, it isn't just some denomination's take on things. It is actually one of the most distributed books in the world.

 

[Perham1]

Very true, theu. My apologies for my tone.

I actually kind of like catechisms, but I guess that's my inner Jesuit coming out. But they (catechisms) have the potential to make the sublime boring.