Stopping to Think

  The Heidelberg Catechism by Zacharias Ursinus My rating: 5 of 5 stars A beautiful little catechism. Scriptural, devotional. Much warmer than other catechisms I’ve read. I’m not Reformed with the capital R, so I have some quibbles on the definition of the church and one of the questions on baptism, but I would heartily recommend this for devotional reading and study. The Puritan paperback edition by Banner of Truth is very nicely put together, and easily slipped in and out of my cargo pocket while I was sitting in a tree stand. View all my reviews

Let me begin with a clarification of terms. By Reppin', I mean Repetition. And by Old Schhol, I mean way Old School. Think Calvin. Heidelberg. Westminster. We're talking Catechisms. For those unfamiliar with what a catechism is, here is the basic idea. A set of propositional truths are put forth in a question-and-answer format to teach doctrine, and guard against both error and wrong teaching. If you're like me, in that you grew up either in an evangelical church or unchurched, this concept is likely somewhat foreign to you. While it is still in use in some Catholic and a very few mainline Protestant churches, catechims have gone somewhat the way of the dodo. The reasoning for this is more than I could cover here, but if I might be allowed some over-simplification, here is how I would put it: People don't want to hear propositional truth, they'd rather have their ears scratched in a discussion or lecture format, and have no use for participatory learning of deep,...