In chapter 3 of their book, Packer and Parrett set out to address the “Waxing and Waning of Catechesis.” At the outset they allude to the quote above from Calvin and rightfully conclude that “Christians of all sorts once again seem to be intent on testing this thesis.” This is a, if not the, most important chapter of the book. Included is a survey of the development of the practice in the ancient church, in the church during the Reformation, and among the Puritans. One thing is clear: even though written catechisms weren’t used until the Reformation—the printing press was not around prior to it—the church throughout history has taken the duty of grounding its members in the doctrines of the faith very seriously. Beginning with Luther, it became common in the church for Christian education to be centered around the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Creed. In his preface to his Small Catechism, Luther wrote,

Although the people who are supposed to be Christian, are baptized, and receive the holy sacrament, they do not know the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, or the Ten Commandments, they live as if they were pigs and irrational beasts, and now that the Gospel has been restored they have mastered the fine art of abusing liberty (p. 61).

The authors highlight six reasons for the waning of catechesis (pp. 68-73). A couple are worth noting because they remain pronounced in our day. The first is the “movement away from Reformational piety to evangelical pietism” (p. 68). Practically speaking, this meant a rejection of sola scriptura (no authority over the Bible) for solo scriptura (no authority except the Bible). Related to this, the study of the Bible directly and individually came to be thought of “as a more trustworthy source of truth and wisdom…than any aspect of the church’s historical heritage” (p. 69). Number four on their list in contributing to the waning of catechesis is “the widespread adoption by the Churches of the Sunday School model” (p. 71). We mentioned this last time. Basically, the job of theological education in the church was transferred from the minister, who possessed significant theological training, to well-meaning laypeople. In our context this has morphed into the youth group wherein the youth pastors normally have little or no theological training and are more akin to cruise directors than pastor-theologians. Michael Spencer highlights the irony of all this:

Ironically, the billions of dollars we’ve spent on youth ministries, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they should feel about it (p. 52).

Also related to this is the rise of ecumenism associated with the Sunday School movement. Denominations of all stripes found themselves working together for a common goal. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Right up until you come to Question 74 of the Heidelberg Catechism. Q. Are infants to be baptized? A. Yes, because they, as well as their parents, are included in the covenant and belong to the people of God. Ecumenism simply cannot have something like that. And thus moralistic stories about David and Noah are substituted and little Johnny goes through his entire childhood at church and knows nothing of the Creed, the Ten Commandments, or the Lord’s Prayer, not to mention any of the distinct doctrines of the church.