Agere Sequitur Esse

Catechisms

Manuals that are widely used to indoctrinate
and confirm church membership.

Martinus, P. M.

Definition

Two prominent manuals belong to the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches. While the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church is as the name implies, the catechism of the Anglican Church is included in The Book of Common Prayer. Unlike the former which has greatly expanded on its doctrines in detail, the latter is an abbreviated work in question-and-answer format. (D.F. Wright 2017, 160–162).

Reflections

This term was selected partially because I own both of those catechisms mentioned above. While there are 846 pages in the Roman Catholic Catechism (RCC), there are only 7 pages in the Protestant Episcopal Catechism (PEC), which “is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion” (Wikipedia 2019). Also, whereas the RCC is not for worship services, the PEC is intended to be used in worship services. However, although the RCC appears to be comprehensive, the only support given to the Roman Catholic Church’s doctrine on purgatory (United States Catholic Conference 1994, 291) comes from six sources which are supported by six biblical references: First Corinthians (3:15) and First Peter (1:17), Matthew (12:31) and Maccabees (12:46), and First Corinthians 41 and Job (1:5). The first point is not supported by any Scripture. The supporting references of second point, which refers to the third, vaguely reflects an otherwise embellished statement. The fourth point is supported by an Apocryphal source, which was only added by the RCC in response to the Protestant Reformation and is generally not considered to be valid Scripture (Wayne Grudem 1994, 57–58). As with the first, the fifth is also Scripturally unsupported. Although the sixth refers to a Scriptural chapter in general, it only specifically cites a single source which, again, only very vaguely provides any support at all. Although the RCC appears comprehensive, if one looks closely enough, much it’s details appear to be smoke and mirrors.

Refs.

1. Adam, David. 2019. “What I F Aging Were a Disease.” MIT Technology Review 122 (5): 14–18. https://www.technologyreview.com/
2. Grudem, Wayne. 1994. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
3. United States Catholic Conference. 1994. Catechism of The Catholic Church. New York, NY: Doubleday.
4. Wikipedia. 2019. “Wikipedia: Episcopal Church (United States).” Wikimedia Foundation. Last modified November 26, 2019, 02:35. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episcopal_Church_(United_States)