Kerygma and Catechesis: September 2020

Scroll below for a comprehensive list of on-line catechisms from various Christian traditions.

A catechism is a collection of questions and answers traditionally used by the church in providing religious instruction.

Typically catechisms include instruction on the Ten Commandments, the Creeds, the Lord's Prayer, and the Sacraments. Catechisms are often used during confirmation. There have been numerous catechisms used throughout the history of the church. The study of these various catechisms is instructive to the development of theology and summarizing the basic beliefs of Christian churches. Currently it is the goal to provide on this site access from the web of various Christian catechisms. Creeds (from the Latin credo "I believe") are confessions or expressions of faith of the church. The word creed usually denotes confessions accepted by the universal church, (the Apostles, Nicene, Athanasian), Confessions are often limited to a particular denomination. A few confessional links are included although in the future a separate confessional page will be designated.

A Very Short History of Christianity (through our schisms and disunity)
The book of acts tells of the missionary growth of Christianity that began in Jerusalem as a part of Judaism and was soon flourishing throughout the Greco-Roman world. Christianity took on an increasingly Hellenistic character as Jewish-Christianity declined. It also met with considerable antagonism and suppression by the Roman empire. Yet, in spite of centuries of persecution, Christianity continued to grow quickly and expand at the five major centers; Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Rome, and Constantinople. These groups spawned numerous other churches in various regions of the ancient world reaching as far as Africa, India, and the British Isles. The Armenian state was the first to recognize Christianity around 301 CE, as did the Roman Empire in 380 CE.

However, several schisms have resulted in splits within Christianity. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are comprised of a part of the church that broke communion from both the eastern and western churches in the fifth century (Coptic, Ethiopian, Syriac, Malankara Syrian [Indian], Eritrean, and Armenian) over the Council of Chalcedon 451 AD. In 1054 AD the Great Schism resulted in the churches of the east (Orthodox) breaking communion with the churches of the west (Roman Catholic) over the admission of the folioque into the Nicene Creed (and the Son). Today, the Orthodox Church is a communion of fifteen separate autocephalous churches, other autonomous orthodox churches and some self-governing churches. While the Roman Catholic Church is the name of the western church, and Eastern Rite Catholics designates those that stayed with the Catholic Church in the east after the schism.

The Reformation (1517) was a time of great upheaval in Europe, with several new groups separated from the Roman Catholic Church including the Lutherans, Reformed and Presbyterians. The Church of England (Anglican) retained the worship, liturgy and church governmental structures of the catholic church but adopted some doctrinal elements of the reformation and separated from Rome in 1534. The Counter-Reformation or Catholic Reformation although in many ways present before the Reformation, certainly gained new steam after the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic church saw reforms and missionary activities around the world under St Ignatius and the Jesuits. With the emergence of European exploration and colonization, Roman Catholicism spread to most of South and Central America, and with a missionary presence in many other places around the world. North America, Oceania, Australia, Africa, Asia and India all had the presence of the various national churches of the colonial governments.

In North America, the lack of connection with many of the historically Christian Churches, continued schisms in doctrine, and the settling of the vast new North American continent spawned numerous new christian sect groups of Baptist, evangelical, pentecostal, and charismatic persuasions. Globalization, innovation in travel, and missionary activity in the twentieth century, has increased communication around the world bringing a new possibilities in engaging historic Christianity. Since the reformation a natural division theologically occurs between those churches that are Protestant, historical and sacramental (Lutheran, Episcopal, Presbyterian) and those factions in Protestant Christianity that are from a free church, baptist, or Zwinglian background. One of the most significant challenges that faces the church today is the question of our visible unity and continuity of the church, as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.

The Catechism list is a collection of on-line catechisms available from various Orthodox, Catholic, Reformed and other Protestant churches.

ARDA click to see family tree of Christianity

Orthodox Wiki list of autocephalous and autonomous orthodox churches

List of Oriental Orthodox churches

Lutheran Portal wiki

Anglican Portal wiki

Catholic portal wiki

Reformed denominations portal wiki

Catechism of the Presbyterian Church
The Presbyterian Church (USA) provides on the national denomination's website two catechism in the following languages: English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese.

Presbyterian Catechisms (PCUSA) click to access web site

The 210th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has approved the above two catechisms for use in the Presbyterian Church (1998).

International translations available:

el catecismo de estudio: la versión de confirmación en español accesible aquí

연구의 교리 문답 : 한국 접근 여기에서 확인 버전

giáo lý nghiên cứu: phiên bản xác nhận bằng tiếng Việt có thể truy cập ở đây

調査の公教要理：確認バージョンここに日本人がアクセス中

研究教理：在這裡訪問的中國版確認