Читать книгу In God's School - Pierre Ch. Marcel - Страница 5

“In God’s School!” is a course designed for students who desire to be introduced to the foundations of the Christian faith, and put the gospel of Christ into practice. It is also for those who wish to deepen their faith and sharpen the contours of Christian thought. For the teacher, this will not be a question of another “school” or method, but a special spur to spiritual vitality. Our knowledge of salvation can never be more than the Word of God, or such as God has revealed in the Holy Scriptures. It is a Word to which we may never add, and from which we must never take away. This is the only “School of God” in which the sinful creature learns to know and love his Creator, Savior and Father, and at the same time learns to know himself and to how to give God the honor of which He is worthy.

By publishing the present catechism, I do not suppose that it either can or should replace any number of handbooks presently used in our Churches. They were written by competent men, for clear purposes, and for a well understood public. I would only assert that the present conditions, sometimes including tragic religious instruction, invite a reform of teaching methods and work. It is nevertheless a question of serious adaptation. We must take into account the desires of a great number of believers, sometimes publicly expressed,—given their needs, their sincere searching, their social milieu, perhaps also their turn of mind—most present catechisms do not address them or are unsatisfactory.

I am inclined to think that one of the basic themes of this adaptation, to which a number of pastors have given their time, is a response to the legitimate curiosity of our young catechumens, of students and adults of every condition searching for instruction in the things of God and the Christian religion. I have desired to put a catechism in their hands of sufficient size to answer their questions and facilitate their studies, . . . in a classic form and in modern language.

In the desire to adapt my teaching to the present needs of my students, as a faithful response to the requirements of the Word of God I have composed this catechism, flowing from the practice of pastoral ministry, the intention of my catechumens, my proselytes, and my parishioners, first of all, but also for the use it may be to others.

It is not a personal work, a work that I have fathered. Just the opposite. I simply pass on a heritage: that of the Reformation. The source of the present work is the Heidelberg Catechism and the Geneva Catechism, symbolic books of the Reformed church. The reader will find here in modern language, but always at the same time in classic language that designates things by their names, the substance of the questions and answers of both catechisms. I am aware of supporting here both the tradition of the Reformed church and its spiritual fruit.

But this catechism is an effort at adaptation to today’s needs. It includes therefore certain developments, occasionally of great importance, which cannot be found in the two above-mentioned books. They also account for general omissions found today among the young people and believers in our churches. In ten or twenty years other points will probably need to be accented.

I have always especially tried to place in relief the fact that Jesus Christ is living today, that he has taken our condition to give us his; that his work, acts, reign, intercession, dispense his gifts liberally, and that he presides over the destiny of his Church; that the Christian’s condition, miserable in the world’s eyes, is in fact glorious above all privilege. At every turn, I insist on making clear that every man is called by God to the Christian life, and that each can receive personally the gifts He offers. . . .