Luther's Small Catechism
Der Kleine Katechismus
Ich glaube an Gott den Vater, Allmächtigen, Schöpfer Himmels und der Erden.
Our renderingI believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
What it is
Written in 1529 as a household guide for fathers to teach their children the essentials of Protestant faith, the Small Catechism covers the Ten Commandments, Apostles' Creed, Lord's Prayer, Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and daily prayers in a question-and-answer format designed for memorization. Duke Albrecht von Hohenzollern commissioned its translation into Old Prussian in 1545, printed by Hans Weinreich in Königsberg — the oldest printed books in that language — making vernacular catechetical instruction a cornerstone of the duchy's Reformation. Frederick the Great's 1763 General-Land-Schul-Reglement explicitly mandated Luther's Small Catechism in all Prussian schools, cementing it as the primary doctrinal formation text for Hohenzollern subjects across three centuries. It remains the most widely used Protestant catechism in the world and a living document in Lutheran congregations globally.
Why it still matters
Still in active Lutheran use worldwide; daily recitation and meditation on its six chief parts — particularly the Lord's Prayer explanations and the morning and evening prayers — is one of the most direct paths into historic Reformation piety, formally recommended by Lutheran denominations for individual and family prayer.
Kept alongside
Heidelberg Catechism
Heidelberger Katechismus
Commissioned in 1563 by Elector Frederick III of the Palatinate and principally authored by Ursinus and Olevianus, the Heidelberg Catechism became the primary doctrinal and devotional formation instrument of international Calvinism, approved at the Synod of Dort in 1619. After Elector John Sigismund of Brandenburg converted to Calvinism in 1613–14, he explicitly placed the Heidelberg Catechism alongside the Augsburg Confession in the Berlin court church, making it the instrument of Reformed catechetical formation for the Hohenzollern dynasty's private faith until the Prussian Union of 1817. Its 129 questions and answers are deliberately affective as well as doctrinal, structured around comfort, guilt, and gratitude rather than abstract theology. Spanning Reformed churches across Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, and the English-speaking world, its historical reach is genuinely ecumenical.
Anglican Catechism (within the Book of Common Prayer)
A Catechism, That Is to Say, An Instruction to Be Learned of Every Person before He Be Brought to Be Confirmed by the Bishop
The Anglican Catechism was the formal instrument for preparing royal children for confirmation, covering the Creed, Ten Commandments, Lord's Prayer, and Sacraments in a compact question-and-answer format. Victoria and Albert's children received this instruction under chaplain Charles Tarver and other Windsor clergy, with Cecil Frances Alexander's 'Hymns for Little Children' (1848) serving as a companion designed by Keble to illuminate the catechism's Creed and Commandments through verse. Its reach was not merely royal: the BCP Catechism was the universal baseline for Anglican confirmation preparation across England and the empire throughout the nineteenth century. The text's brevity and clarity made it equally suitable for family instruction as for formal classroom or chapel use.
Luther's Large Catechism (Deutsche Katechismus)
The Large Catechism, published in April 1529, arose from Luther's Saxon parish visitations and was addressed to pastors and educated adults in princely households who required deeper catechetical grounding than the Small Catechism provided. Luther himself testified to reading it every morning alongside the Psalms, intending it as a devotional commentary to be re-read regularly rather than studied once. Incorporated into the 1580 Book of Concord as a binding confessional standard, it became the document to which Lutheran princes attached their public subscription, making it simultaneously a devotional text and an act of political-religious identity. Its five parts — Commandments, Creed, Lord's Prayer, Baptism, and Eucharist — constitute a complete map of the Christian life.