The Catechetical Narrative
Catechesis has, at its core, a basic narrative or summary of the Christian faith. So, before you even begin to teach the Christian faith to someone, you or the curriculum you use must have thoroughly thought through how to present the Word of Christ systematically and concisely. Luther knew this all too well. In fact, the pedagogical genius of Luther’s Small Catechism is his reordering of the chief parts to tell the simple theological narrative of faith. About this reading Luther writes,
The commandments teach a man to recognize his sickness … that he is an evil and sinful man. After this, the creed shows and teaches him where he can find … the grace which will help him become a righteous man so that he may keep the commandments, and which show him God and the righteousness which he reveals and offers to us in Christ. Thirdly, the Lord’s Prayer teaches him how he should desire, get, and appropriate this grace for himself, namely through regular, humble, and consoling prayer. … These are the three chief things in all the Scriptures. (Martin Luther, “Brief Explanation of the Ten Commandments, The Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer, 1520,” in Works of Martin Luther, With Introductions and Notes, (Philadelphia, PA: A. J. Holman, 1915), 2:354-355.)
Now, as I use Luther’s Law/Gospel catechetical narrative in my 21st-century American context, there is a prominent difficulty I need to be aware of and mitigate: anthropocentricity, or the idea that everything revolves around me. I do not want to give the impression that Jesus’ work is only for me or that the Church is all about what I want, feel, or think I need. The catechumen must see that they are part of Christ’s Church which is comprised of people of various ages, experiences, ethnicities, languages, and historical eras who weekly gather around Jesus in Word and Sacrament, and then daily live their lives in Him. I need them to see their life is one small part of a larger historical narrative that spans from Genesis to Revelation. This is where St. Augustine’s catechumenate is helpful.
Augustine’s narrative is based on six distinctive turning-points of salvation history: Adam to Noah, Noah to Abraham, Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian Captivity, the return of the exiles to Christ’s incarnation, and Christ’s birth to the present age.[1] Augustine’s catechetical narrative is “that Christ came, to wit, that man might learn how much God loves him; and that he might learn this, to the intent that he might be kindled to the love of Him by whom he was first loved, and might also love his neighbor at the command and showing of Him who became our neighbor.”[2] The shape and substance of this catechetical narrative is largely retained in the twelve narratives of the Easter Vigil Service.
Using Luther and Augustine’s catechetical narratives in tandem has allowed me to retain the power of the Law/Gospel narrative, while simultaneously teaching the unified biblical narrative of God’s salvific work for all people in Jesus Christ. It has allowed me to address biblical illiteracy and anthropocentricity. The tandem catechetical narratives might simply be expressed as follows: God has joined you in the flesh (his human body), so that you may join Him in your flesh for eternity.
[1] R. A. Markus, Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of St. Augustine, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970), 17-18.
[2] Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 287.