A New Addition to Anglicans Ablaze: The Heidelberg Catechism

I have added a Heidelberg Catechism page to Anglicans Ablaze. Heidelberg would influence the Reformed Church of England during the reign of Elizabeth I and James I as well as Geneva and Zurich.

The original title of the Heidelberg Catechism was Catechism, or Christian Instruction, according to the Usages of the Churches and Schools of the Electoral Palatinate.

The Heidelberg Catechism was translated into English in 1571. However, the Latin version of the catechism was already circulating in England in 1565.

During the reign of Elizabeth I students were expected to be skilled in Latin. It was the lingua franca that scholars in the different countries of Europe used to communicate with each other. The most of the books that were used as textbooks in the universities were written in Latin.

In Elizabethan grammar schools the younger boys studied Latin grammar and vocabulary; the older boys read the works of the classical writers like Ovid and Martial.

The original version of the Heidelberg Catechism was written in Latin. It was from the Latin version that the catechism was translated into German, Dutch, French, English, and other languages.

Alexander Nowell’s Larger Catechism which was commissioned by Convocation in 1563 was also written in Latin. It was published in 1570 and translated into English in 1571.

The Heidelberg Catechism would have exercised an influence upon England’s educated classes well before its translation in English.

The Heidelberg Catechism and Nowell’s Catechism would supersede John Calvin’s Genevan Catechism, which had been translated into English in 1556. All three catechisms would be used to teach the essentials of the Christian faith to the English people along with the first and second Books of Homilies and the Prayer Book Catechism.

In future articles I hope to compare different sections of the Heidelberg Catechism with the corresponding sections of Nowell’s Catechism, the 1571 Articles of Religion, the 1604 Prayer Book Catechism, The Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the Anglican Church in North America’s To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism. I believe that such a comparison should prove very interesting to say the least.