{"id":2745,"date":"2011-09-02T08:53:28","date_gmt":"2011-09-02T14:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/?p=2745"},"modified":"2011-09-19T20:39:44","modified_gmt":"2011-09-20T02:39:44","slug":"why-you-should-begin-with-biblical-catechesis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/02\/why-you-should-begin-with-biblical-catechesis\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Begin with Biblical Catechesis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Biblical catechesis is the Sword of the Spirit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

[This is a part of the\u00a0Fundamentals of Effective Catechesis<\/a>\u00a0series. Have you seen the other posts?]<\/p>\n

Have you ever walked into a movie after it’s already started?<\/p>\n

You can’t figure out what’s\u00a0going on\u00a0because you don’t know what happened before.<\/p>\n

This is what it’s like when you don’t\u00a0understand the story of the Bible.<\/p>\n

We are all inserted into this story, the mystery of\u00a0Christ<\/a>, when we’re baptized.<\/p>\n

Then, we’re expected to participate in it and play an active part! How can anyone do this if they don’t know what’s already happened?<\/p>\n

One of\u00a0the first steps in evangelizing your students<\/a> is to make them aware of this and teach them the story<\/a> they’re already in.<\/p>\n

This should be done in the youngest grades using\u00a0biblical catechesis<\/strong>. This is catechesis using the Bible or Bible stories to tell the story of salvation<\/strong> and draw out the deeper meaning of Catholic doctrine.<\/p>\n

But why should you begin\u00a0with biblical catechesis? Here are three compelling reasons why this is the best way to start.
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Biblical catechesis: the primary method in\u00a0the early Church<\/h2>\n

This is the way it’s always been done. In the early Church, great teachers like St. Augustine used this method in their catechetical schools.<\/p>\n

Around the year 405, a deacon named Deogratias wrote to St. Augustine and asked him the best way to begin teaching people about the Catholic Faith.<\/p>\n

In response, Augustine wrote a whole book! He had a lot to say!\u00a0The book is called The First Catechetical Instruction<\/em>. And, lucky for you, it’s\u00a0still available<\/a>. Here is the main point:<\/p>\n

“When anyone is to receive his first catechetical\u00a0instruction, he shall be given the complete history (of\u00a0salvation), starting from the place where it is written\u00a0‘In the beginning God created heaven and earth’ down to\u00a0the present period of the Church.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In another place, Augustine instructs that all the events before Christ\u00a0should be presented so they converge on his coming. This is essentially biblical catechesis on the mystery of\u00a0Christ<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this divine romance, God is the initiator. He revealed himself first to mankind and then asked for our response of faith. It seems natural that we should imitate God’s methods. That means introducing students to him the way he introduced himself to mankind–through his revelation in the Bible.<\/p>\n

Biblical catechesis lays this out in\u00a0the most basic way.<\/p>\n

The fathers learned biblical catechesis from\u00a0the apostles<\/h2>\n

So, did Augustine just make this stuff up? How did he figure this out? The early Church fathers learned this method of biblical catechesis from the apostles.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There’s many examples in the Bible of the apostles doing this. In\u00a0Acts, when the apostles catechized, they always referred back to the Old Testament Scriptures and interpreted their fulfillment in\u00a0Christ.<\/p>\n