The Collected Christian Essentials: Catechism: A Guide to the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, and the Lord's Prayer

Christian Essentials Series

by Peter J. Leithart, Ben Myers, Wesley Hill

A life discipled by the catechism The Collected Christian Catechism is perfect for daily devotions, personal study, and prayer with others. Let the catechism of the Ten Commandments, Apostles' Creed, and the Lord's Prayer guide your devotional life. Experience a simple liturgy of morning and evening prayer. Pray fresh prayers inspired by the catechism. Read Scripture with the church year. Understand the riches of the catechism with Peter J. Leithart, Ben Myers, and Wesley Hill. The catechism— the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, and the Lord's Prayer—has sustained and nurtured every generation of believers, directing their faith, hope, and love. It helps Christians read, pray, and live God's word. By giving Christians God's word to give back to him, it plants seeds of his word and cultivates them to full growth. The Collected Christian Catechism brings the church's ancient catechism to a new generation. The twenty-four catechism prayers were written by the Right Reverend Joey Royal, Suffragan Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Arctic.

Genres: Christian

274 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2023

About the author

Peter Leithart received an A.B. in English and History from Hillsdale College in 1981, and a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in 1986 and 1987. In 1998 he received his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in England. He has served in two pastorates: He was pastor of Reformed Heritage Presbyterian Church (now Trinity Presbyterian Church), Birmingham, Alabama from 1989 to 1995, and was founding pastor of Trinity Reformed Church, Moscow, Idaho, and served on the pastoral staff at Trinity from 2003-2013. From 1998 to 2013 he taught theology and literature at New St. Andrews College, Moscow, Idaho, where he continues to teach as an adjunct Senior Fellow. He now serves as President of Trinity House in Alabama, where is also resident Church Teacher at the local CREC church. He and his wife, Noel, have ten children and five grandchildren.

Reviews

[Rachel Ramey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a really mixed bag. There are clear differences in both quality and theological soundness between each of these writers. Leithart's section is excellent. Although I may not agree with every single phrase of his conclusions, this section (on the Ten Commandments -- or "Ten Words") is, overall, theologically solid and chock-full of useful insights.

The second section, written by Ben Myers on the Apostles' Creed, is a step down. There are a few useful insights, but I didn't find it as well-done overall. The writing style is rather scattered and, stylistically, it reads more like an academic lecture than anything pastoral. (Given that it was apparently written on the basis of sermons at his church, this is mildly concerning. No wonder people struggle with family-integrated worship if our pastors preach like they're giving lectures to a seminary class.) There were also several sections of writing here that had a flavor of universalism and/or of weirdly-cultish communion with dead. I don't think that was the intent; I assume Myers is not a universalist. But the choice of words was, in my estimation, somewhat careless and gave this impression.

The third section doesn't even read like it belongs in the same book. Written by Wesley Hill and covering the Lord's Prayer, it is, to use the vernacular, completely "woke." There are a few stray gems here and there, but overall this section just constantly had me cringing. Hill spoke negatively of patriarchy, referring to it as a "social construct" and implying it to be inherently harmful. He affirmed "Christian feminists," promoted "social justice," and communicated that white people are unavoidably racist. If I wanted to read a treatise on Cultural Marxism, I would not have picked up a book rooted in historic, traditional, Christian writings.

Some readers will want to be aware this book does contain an image of Jesus (in Myers's section, in reference to an Eastern Orthodox icon of the resurrection), and Hill's section includes an image of the prodigal son and the father, which some readers may consider an image of THE Father. (Leithart also uses a single expletive, which surprised me. It's in reference to those who are not God-honoring, but still...I was not expecting it.)

If I had it to do all over again, and were reading this purely for my own sake and not with the expectation of reviewing it, I would have read the first section, authored by Leithart, and then skipped the rest of the book.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence: Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ described his word as a seed.

So many conflicting thoughts on this one. First, you should know--according to the copyright page--that these three [long] essays [or articles] were all previously published. So there is always the chance that you might have previously come across these in another publication. Second, each essay is united in that they provide commentary and 'insight' about an essential, historic, traditional Christian document. (Most catechisms, creeds, confessions, statements of faith, etc. use the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Apostle's Creed as foundational structure (or skeleton)). However, they are all authored by different authors AND approach these historic essential pieces VERY differently. In other words, theologically the authors are all over the place. The strongest essay/article is Peter J. Leithart's coverage/commentary on the Ten Commandments. The other two essays were hit or miss--depending on the paragraph. By far the weakest essay was the last. Wesley Hill's essay was a mess. In my opinion. Granted you might not think it is a mess. And VERY TRUE it is far from the worst I've ever read or heard. Nothing that would make me shudder. It's just I don't know that I could honestly recommend this essay as being helpful or beneficial.

The last section of the book might just be the most practical. But it also might prove hit or miss with readers. I think some will absolutely love it. Others perhaps might not put it into use or practice depending on if you are the type of person who likes to read prayers out of books.

So the last section, shares prayers--"collects," if you will--structured around all the broken down pieces of the Ten Commandments, Apostles Creed, Lord's Prayer. Each of the three is broken down into bite-size fragments/sections/sentences. There's a prayer for each. So there's a prayer for the first of the ten commandments, etc. So if you REALLY were looking to study these three historic, essentials of the Christian faith, then this prayer section might prove just the thing. It could be incredibly impactful and useful. On the other hand, some folks really just don't get much out of praying a scripted prayer.

I liked the beginning and the end. I wasn't as thrilled with the middle.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew up memorising the Catholic Catechism and was curious how this one differed. It isn’t what I expected and I found it really interesting. I liked that there were essays explaining common Christian prayers and the Ten Commandments. I don’t know enough about their theology or origins to comment on the quality of the essays but I certainly learned a lot that I didn’t know and found interesting.

There are individual prayers written to complement the essays and the content and these were often quite thought provoking.

This is not a book to read straight through. It will serve well if you dip into it. I will reread and probably by reading an essay, reflecting on that and then thinking on a prayer or two.

It’s an engaging read and would be stimulating if used on your own or with a group.

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley

[Lisa Gisèle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are my own opinions.

After the preface, I thought this book would have been too hard for me to follow along, but I was proven wrong. I actually enjoyed reconnecting with my face and being able to answer my Baptist friend's questions. Honestly, I enjoyed educating myself on things I either forgot or never learned.

[Douglas Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Collected Christian Essentials: Catechism is a devotional style of writing, taking the reader through the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer. Each line of these "essentials" is followed by a short devotional by the writers. Written prayers provide the lead into each section. I enjoyed this book and recommend it for personal devotion or group study.