{"id":1987,"date":"2023-12-07T21:20:54","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T21:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/?page_id=1987"},"modified":"2025-09-09T01:33:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T01:33:32","slug":"shorter-catechisms-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/shorter-catechisms-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Shorter Catechisms History"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Westminster Shorter Catechism<\/b>\u00a0is a\u00a0catechism<\/a>\u00a0written in 1646 and 1647 by the\u00a0Westminster Assembly<\/a>, a\u00a0synod<\/a>\u00a0of English and Scottish theologians and laymen intended to bring the\u00a0Church of England<\/a>\u00a0into greater conformity with the\u00a0Church of Scotland<\/a>. The assembly also produced the\u00a0Westminster Confession of Faith<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Westminster Larger Catechism<\/a>. A version without Scripture citations was completed on 25 November 1647 and presented to the\u00a0Long Parliament<\/a>, and Scripture citations were added on 14 April 1649.<\/p>\n

Background<\/span><\/h2>\n

Catechesis<\/a>\u00a0is a practice of teaching the Christian faith. New converts to Christianity were taught through lectures during the first four centuries of the Church’s existence, but this practice was largely abandoned with the rise of\u00a0Christendom<\/a>.\u00a0Christian humanists<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Protestant Reformers<\/a>\u00a0sought to revive the practice, including the\u00a0Reformed<\/a>.\u00a0John Calvin<\/a>‘s\u00a0Genevan Catechism<\/a>\u00a0was especially influential among the British Reformed. The most popular British catechisms included works by\u00a0John Craig<\/a>,\u00a0James Ussher<\/a>,\u00a0Herbert Palmer<\/a>,\u00a0John Ball<\/a>, and\u00a0Anthony Tuckney<\/a>.[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

On\u00a0John Knox<\/a>‘s return to Scotland after long exile because he was deemed by the authorities a heretic, the\u00a0First Book of Discipline<\/a><\/i>\u00a0(1560) was drafted. It required that a\u00a0Sabbath<\/a>\u00a0afternoon session be set aside for examination of young children in catechism, and this practice eventually was adopted in the\u00a0Kirk<\/a>. Catechizing became a part of life in the Scottish Churches with itinerant catechists being employed to instruct the people\u2014a practice that continued into the 19th century.[citation needed<\/span><\/a><\/i>]<\/sup><\/p>\n

In 1643, the\u00a0Westminster Assembly<\/a>, which was designed to bring the two national churches into greater conformity, was convened at the height of the\u00a0English Civil War<\/a>\u00a0to reform the\u00a0Church of England<\/a>. When the\u00a0Solemn League and Covenant<\/a>\u00a0was as a result signed between the English and Scots the Assembly’s work also became the framing of “four points or parts of uniformity”: a Confession of Faith, Form of Church Government, Directory for Worship, and Catechizing.[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Composition<\/span><\/h2>\n

Although the church in Scotland (the Kirk) had produced\u00a0The New Catechisme according to the Forme of the Kirk of Scotland<\/i>\u00a0in 1644, it was aimed particularly at children and youth, and was not adopted by the Westminster Assembly of Divines.[citation needed<\/span><\/a><\/i>]<\/sup>\u00a0Twelve or fourteen of the members of the Westminster Assembly had produced catechisms themselves prior to the Assembly. Herbert Palmer was one of the most respected catechists in the country, and it was expected that his catechism, first published in 1640, would be the basis for the Assembly’s. It appears that this idea was abandoned by the committee assigned to the catechism after some work in 1645, followed by another failed attempt at a single catechism from the Summer of 1646 to 14 January 1647<\/p>\n

At this point, the committee decided that it would need to produce two catechisms rather than one, as the needs of ministers and children were very different. The committee also decided to wait until the completion of the\u00a0Confession of Faith<\/a>, and to base the catechisms off this document rather than the Apostles’ Creed. The\u00a0Larger Catechism<\/a>\u00a0was completed and forwarded to Parliament on 22 October 1647, and another committee was set up for the Shorter Catechism composed of Herbert Palmer as chairman,\u00a0Charles Herle<\/a>,\u00a0Thomas Temple<\/a>,\u00a0John Lightfoot<\/a>, John Greene, Philip Delme,\u00a0Edmund Calamy the Elder<\/a>, and\u00a0Stanley Gower<\/a>. When Palmer died soon after the constitution of this committee, another committee was formed with only Anthony Tuckney,\u00a0Stephen Marshall<\/a>, and John Ward, along with\u00a0Samuel Rutherford<\/a>\u00a0(one of the Scottish commissioners, who could not vote).[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

<\/a>
Anthony Tuckney<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Anthony Tuckney is believed to be the most influential of the committee members on the Catechism. The previously published catechisms of James Ussher and John Ball, as well as the theology of\u00a0William Perkins<\/a>\u00a0were also relied upon,[4]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0however many of the similarities between the Assembly’s Shorter Catechism and earlier ones may be explained by the common theological vocabulary of the time.[5]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The Shorter Catechism was largely based on the Larger Catechism, though the Shorter may have incorporated more of the earlier abandoned catechism than the Larger. It was sent to Parliament on 25 November 1647, a little over a month after the Larger Catechism. Scripture citations were added on 14 April 1648.[6]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0It was passed Parliament 22\u201325 September[7]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0and ordered to be printed with the title\u00a0The Grounds and Principles of Religion Contained in a Shorter Catechism<\/i>.[8]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The Church of Scotland approved it in July 1648, and it passed the\u00a0Scottish Parliament<\/a>\u00a0in February of the next year.[6]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Form and content<\/span><\/h2>\n

The purpose of the Shorter Catechism is to educate children and others “of weaker capacity” (according to a preface written by the Church of Scotland) in the\u00a0Reformed<\/a>\u00a0faith. It is based on the Larger Catechism, which was intended for use by ministers as they taught the faith to their congregations in preaching.[6]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The Catechism is in a question and answer format, which had been popularized by\u00a0Martin Luther<\/a>\u00a0as a way to help children learn the meaning of the material, rather than simply memorizing the\u00a0Lord’s Prayer<\/a>,\u00a0Ten Commandments<\/a>, and\u00a0Apostles’ Creed<\/a>\u00a0as had been the practice prior to the Reformation.[9]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

The catechism is composed of 107 questions and answers. The first 12 questions concern\u00a0God<\/a>\u00a0as\u00a0Creator<\/a>. Questions 13\u201320 deal with\u00a0original sin<\/a>\u00a0and the fallen state of man’s nature. Questions 21\u201338 concern\u00a0Christ<\/a>\u00a0the Redeemer and the benefits that flow from redemption. The next set of questions, 39\u201384, discuss the\u00a0Ten Commandments<\/a>. Questions 85\u201397 teach concerning the\u00a0Sacraments<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Baptism<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Holy Communion<\/a>. The final set of questions, 98\u2013107, teach and explain the\u00a0Lord’s prayer<\/a>. This organization mimics the earlier\u00a0Heidelberg Catechism<\/a>\u00a0used by many\u00a0Continental Reformed<\/a>\u00a0churches.<\/p>\n

The most famous of the questions (known to a great many Presbyterian children) is the first:<\/p>\n

Q. What is the chief end of man?<\/i>
\nA. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.<\/p>\n

Legacy<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Church of Scotland approved the Westminster Shorter Catechism in 1648, and thereafter it was the manual for instruction. However, because a significant portion of the Scottish Highland population spoke only\u00a0Gaelic<\/a>, the Synod of Argyll in 1649 instructed seven of its ministers to translate the Westminster Shorter Catechism into that language. The result was published that same year, and the Gaelic Shorter Catechism continued to play a part in church life for decades after it had ceased to be used in the English speaking churches.[citation needed<\/span><\/a><\/i>]<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0Free Church of Scotland<\/a>\u00a0still presents a Bible to a child who can answer all 107 questions accurately at one sitting.<\/p>\n

In 1675, the Presbyterian\u00a0Thomas Vincent<\/a>\u00a0in London published a popular exposition called\u00a0The Shorter Catechism Explained<\/i>. Later, Reformed catechisms such as the 1693 Baptist\u00a0Keach’s Catechism<\/a>\u00a0mimic the Westminster catechism on most points except infant baptism.<\/p>\n

The Westminster Catechism is mentioned in\u00a0Nathaniel Hawthorne<\/a>‘s\u00a0The Scarlet Letter<\/a><\/i>, chapter eight, in reference to Pearl’s ability to bear a fair examination by this catechism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Westminster Shorter Catechism\u00a0is a\u00a0catechism\u00a0written in 1646 and 1647 by the\u00a0Westminster Assembly, a\u00a0synod\u00a0of English and Scottish theologians and laymen intended to bring the\u00a0Church […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/page_fullwidth.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1987","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1987"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2117,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1987\/revisions\/2117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}