Augsburg Fortress

Praying the Catechism, Revised and Expanded Edition

Praying the Catechism, Revised and Expanded Edition

Praying the Catechism invites the reader into a ninety-day journey of prayer and meditation through six sections of Luther’s Small Catechism: the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord's Prayer, Baptism, Holy Communion, and Confession. Along with the catechism, passages of scripture and the liturgies for baptism and communion are used as starting points for the meditations.

Donald W. Johnson wrote the original book. His daughter, Susan C. Johnson, national bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, has revised and expanded this edition with updated language, new daily prayers, and contemporary examples such as inclusivity, justice and peace issues, and the climate crisis.

This book is for individuals and families to use as part of their prayer lives, and for people of any age preparing to affirm their faith. It is also suitable for adults preparing for baptism, using the two sections of the book approximately 40 days before and 50 days after baptism. If baptism occurs at the Easter Vigil, the two sections are especially appropriate for the seasons of Lent and Easter, respectively.

  • In stock

$18.99

  • Publisher Augsburg Fortress
  • Format Paperback
  • ISBN 9781506480121
  • Dimensions 6 x 9
  • Pages 216
  • Publication Date September 8, 2021

Endorsements

"Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace," Martin Luther wrote in his "Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans." Luther was clear that faith was not an academic exercise but a deep relationship with God lived among God's people. In Praying the Catechism authors Donald W. Johnson and Susan C. Johnson return the Small Catechism to the community as a beautiful companion on the journey of faith. At once true to the tradition and freshly contemporary, this treasure unflinchingly acknowledges the reality of human brokenness and bears witness to the promise of the hope we have in Christ.

Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Using the ever-fresh Small Catechism of Martin Luther, along with important words from the Bible and the liturgy, Pastor Don Johnson and Bishop Susan Johnson invite us to ninety days of reflection and prayer around the faith, gifts, and life made ours in baptism. Intended for an adult's final forty-day preparation for baptism and fifty days of reflection afterward, this book is also refreshingly useful for all of us as we repeatedly come back to those life-giving waters.

Gordon W. Lathrop, author of Saving Images (Fortress, 2017)

With short reflections on each part of Luther's Small Catechism, the reader is invited into prayer in daily life. Connecting the tradition of the catechism with the world around us today, Bishop Susan and her father encourage us, as individuals and communities, to reflect on the core of our faith in light of twenty-first-century challenges. The gentle, insightful wisdom woven in and through the questions and prayers helps to nurture a strong, grounded faith and deeper discipleship. Another gift to our full-communion relationship!

The Most Rev. Linda Nicholls, Primate, Anglican Church of Canada

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