Historical Background And Development Of Martin Luther's Small Catechism

The Small Catechism is a well-known document or book which has been published in many languages. It was used as an instructional material, due to a lack of biblical understanding surrounding the Protestant Reformation. Nowadays, some people might say that the Small Catechism is a handbook of Christian Doctrine, manual of Christian doctrine, or some other names for it. In the other words, people still appreciate Luther’s work on the Small Catechism, even though it was first published almost 500 years ago. This appreciation given in acknowledges of the fact that the Small Catechism is a compact form of faith teaching.

In this first chapter, I will trace what gave rise to Luther’s Small Catechism, with special attention to how it developed as

Historical Background and Development of Luther’s Small Catechism

Martin Luther 's critique of church actions and doctrinal principles in Germany had a great impact on the reformation of the Christian teaching which was taught at his time. His 95 theses was his first action in the reformation in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.

In the later years, as the movement to reform spread, Luther and his colleagues were concerned with the problem of supervision of the church. Luther proposed the Saxon Church Visitation in 1526. The main ideas of this proposal were to see the state of peoples’ faith and the level of their spiritual maturity, and also to give recommendations which could be used to improve the condition of the Christian society at that time. Several people, included Martin Luther himself, were involved in this

There he saw the miserable condition that many ordinary people, especially those who were living in rural areas, where they did not have any knowledge about Christianity and many Pastors were unable to teach Christian doctrine. In the preface of his Small Catechism, Luther states his disappointment in the religious situation that he found, and he says, “Dear God, what misery I beheld! The ordinary person, especially in the villages, knows absolutely nothing about the Christian faith, and unfortunately many pastors are completely unskilled and incompetent teachers” (SC, 2; Kolb and Wengert: 347). Luther was rather depressed by the deplorable situation he encountered while visiting the congregations in