信仰教導的轉化：初期教會與宗教改革

The Transformation of Catechetical Instruction: Early Church and Reformation

Nathan K. NG

This article seeks to investigate the development of catechetical instruction from the early church to the reformation by giving a brief historical survey of related writings and by comparing two catechetical works from Augustine and Martin Luther.

Augustine’s On Catechizing the Uninstructed (De Catechizandis Rudibus) was an outstanding catechetical treatise in the early church. Responding to the request of a catechist Deogratias, a Carthaginian deacon, Augustine wrote the treatise discussing various issues of instruction with a long personal reflection and two model catecheses. He suggested teaching the candidates for baptism the entire bible history as well as church history with special emphasis on the love of God.

The exalted status of Luther’s Small Catechism (Der kleine Katechismus) during the time of reformation is unquestionable. It was intended as a popular work to be used by the lower clergy and general public to instruct the uneducated laity. The main body consists of five parts, explaining by means of question and answer the Ten Commandments, the Apostle’s Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar.

On examining the education strategy and philosophy of these two treatises, the author finds that they have both continuity and discontinuity. Their dissimilarities may easily be explained by the difference between the general condition of their catechists, their accepted concept of education, and the combination of their students. Discerning the needs of the age is crucial in making a good catechetical instruction.