The New City Catechism: 52 Questions and Answers for Our Hearts and Minds

New City Catechism

by Timothy J. Keller, Kathy Keller (Introduction)

Throughout the history of the church, Christians have used catechisms--collections of questions and answers designed for memorization and recitation--to teach others the core doctrines of the faith. The New City Catechism is a modern-day resource aimed at reintroducing this ancient method of teaching to Christians today.

This short book lays out 52 questions and answers related to God, human nature, sin, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and more. Whether used devotionally, recited orally, or memorized over the course of a year, families, churches, small groups, and Christian schools will treasure this as a valuable tool for teaching the core doctrines of the Christian faith to children and adults alike.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Faith, Devotional, Nonfiction, Christian Living, Christianity

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Timothy Keller was the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, which he started in 1989 with his wife, Kathy, and three young sons. For over twenty years he has led a diverse congregation of young professionals that has grown to a weekly attendance of over 5,000.

He was also Chairman of Redeemer City to City, which starts new churches in New York and other global cities, and publishes books and resources for faith in an urban culture. In over ten years they have helped to launch over 250 churches in 48 cities. More recently, Dr. Keller’s books, including the New York Times bestselling The Reason for God and The Prodigal God, have sold over 1 million copies and been translated into 15 languages.

Christianity Today has said, “Fifty years from now, if evangelical Christians are widely known for their love of cities, their commitment to mercy and justice, and their love of their neighbors, Tim Keller will be remembered as a pioneer of the new urban Christians.”

Dr. Keller was born and raised in Pennsylvania, and educated at Bucknell University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Westminster Theological Seminary. He previously served as the pastor of West Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Hopewell, Virginia, Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, and Director of Mercy Ministries for the Presbyterian Church in America.

Reviews

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading one or two of these each Sunday all year and finished a bit early. As a modern catechism, I would give this five stars for coverage of biblical concepts and the mix of old writers like Augustine, Martin Luther, and Charles Spurgeon with modern writers like Tim Keller, Kevin DeYoung, and Thabiti Anyabwile. In comparison to my favorite, The Heidelberg Catechism, though it gets just four stars. Rounding up from 4.5 as this would be a wonderful way for a family to get to know the catechism format as a part of their devotional time together. If you are not familiar with the beauty of the original Heidelberg Catechism, I encourage you to seek it out. The very first question--What is your only comfort in life and death?--is a gospel treatise in and of itself. In fact, when my father died in 2012 the pastor focused on that Q & A for the funeral sermon.

[Michaela Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

excited to help Eliza think through these important questions when she’s older

[Connor Longaphie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this when it came out a while back. Seeing the average rating I must ask what are you all thinking?! Have you not read the historic confessions? The one redeeming quality of this catechism is that it doesn't explicitly disagree with the historic confessions. That being said that one thing is quite a good quality to have BUT when writing or teaching it doesn't only matter what you DO say, but what you do NOT say. The way the rise of Evangelical non denominationalism and liberalism came was watered down confessions. In essence everything the new city catechism stands for is a watering down. Some may say, oh, but we agree, this is infact for children only. Well, that also left to the down fall of proper theological nourishment in the church. People think catechism are for children because of things like this. Children can fully understand the Westminster shorter catechism, the larger catechism, the Heidelberg catechism, the genevan catechism. The new city catechism was not is not and will never be useful or helpful never recommend this never buy it, don't support it. Glad to see confessions and catechisms are still being written and that they're still in line with the historic confessions and cstehcisms, but not like this. This is not how to theologically inform your congregation. I'm also not a Keller fan.

[Thomas Duell · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent primer for spiritual formation in the life of the Christian. Features of the Catechism:
1. The 52 questions are split into 3 parts for organizational and logical structure.
2. Every answer has a shorter version highlighted that is intended for children that simplifies the message.
3. A supporting verse for every question and answer.
4. Virtue Keys to aid with memorization.
5. Beautiful illustrations on every page to help communicate the concept through multiple avenues of learning.

Families and small groups of believers would find this especially helpful for study, memorization, establishing the walls of orthodoxy, and conversation starting.

[Matthew Manchester · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great Catechism that has shorter answers for smaller children and longer answers for older children. It's basically a modified version of the Heidelberg Catechism.

We love that it has an accompanying album online that puts the questions to songs. Now that we've gone through the whole book, we're going back through it memorizing a question a week.

Very glad I received this resource.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved going through this with my kids. It was an easy way to memorize foundational theological truths.

[Jacob London · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry for the low rating for those of you who loved the catechism. Still, I find it redundant and without purpose. The Westminster Shorter Catechism is already available for those who cannot memorize long answers. The WSC was also provided to make sure that the essentials were available in a compact form. Yet, the New City Catechism is lacking in many of those essential doctrines for the sake of being ecumenical. Also, in their effort to make it simple and clear, it becomes almost too simple for people such as myself to appreciate. The whole time I read this my thinking was, "I should be reading the Heidelberg right now."

I give it two stars because I can still appreciate the desire to teach catechism to children. There needs to be a resurgence of catechism for children as well as adults, but I don't think this catechism will provide the answers needed that many other catechisms provide.

[Kaitlyn Pindak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed these! Highly recommend going through both the children’s and the adults accompanying book together!

But what I especially loved was creating a Spotify playlist of hymns and modern hymns to go with this linked here ⬇️ :

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5Jm...

4.25/5 🌟

[Richard Cobb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful catechism. I had to change some of the words for the baptism question, but overall, my girls have loved memorizing the songs over the last couple years.

And those songs are so key in helping them memorize this catechism! Praying for more building on this foundation!

[Owen Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great double click-into catechism. Each devotion covers one of the question and responses - then dives into more commentary about that specific truth. Really a great way to dive deeper into some of the core & foundational gospel truths.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this a lot. I especially like the simplified versions for young children.

[Ray johanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite incredible. So simple but so profound. As someone whose been in the faith for years it was nice to go back to the basics and reconnect with the beauty of the simple gospel

[Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is intended to help the entire family to learn and memorize 52 items of the catechism. A worthy goal. Learning the specific doctrines of orthodox Christianity has been a practice woefully neglected, much to the detriment of the American evangelical church. This simple and truncated version is ostensibly based on the Westminster Shorter Catechism, but substitutes the famous first question of the Westminster ("What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever") with "What is our only hope in life and death? That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ." That's nearly identical to the Heidelberg Catechism. But I'm quibbling. They're both good. I'd better get to memorizing!

PS: if reading more about the catechism sounds at all intriguing, Kevin DeYoung's book "The Good News We Almost Forgot" is a wonderful unpacking of the Heidelberg Catechism

[Jeremy]

This website provides some answers for why a new catechism might be helpful. For example, this catechism is shorter (only 52 Q&As, compared to 107 or 150), and the language has been modernized.

TGC comments here. WORLD comments here. Comment comments (interview really) here. Website (with videos and music) here.

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un beau cadeau pour le monde francophone. Un livre pour s'émerveiller à nouveau devant les belles vérités de la foi chrétienne.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

First sentence: "Catechism--with our kids?" Years ago that was my response when someone suggested that we begin doing a catechism with our very young, very active boys. But, to my amazement, it was a truly wonderful experience.

The New City Catechism is a CATECHISM written for adults with children in mind. Do you have to have children in your life to benefit from The New City Catechism? NO. I wouldn't think that's a must. But if you do have children in your life--your own children, grandchildren, or students in a Sunday School or VBS environment--I highly recommend this as a must-have resource.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 11:18-21:
“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.

Psalm 145:4
One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.

Each spread includes a question--there are fifty-two questions in all--an answer, a supporting Scripture passage, and a tiny icon. The icons represent "a response to God that flows from each question." There is a key to the illustrated icons. The icons are awe, forgiveness, gratitude, honesty, hope, humility, joy, love, perseverance, and trust. The book includes a list of memorization tips.

For very young children, there is an abbreviated answer to each question--this abbreviation is highlighted.

I would also recommend that parents download the FOUR FREE musical albums that go with the New City Catechism. There are songs for each question and answer.

Question One
What is our only hope in life and death?
Answer One
That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.
Scripture Passage: Romans 14:7-8; Icon: Forgiveness

Question Two:
What is God?
God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in his power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will.
Scripture Passage: Psalm 86:8-10, 15; Icon: Awe

[Daniel Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A catechism is a summary of truths presented in question and answer format. "All children and adults observe and interact with the world through their personal worldview." "To catechize children is to build their worldview, to teach them from Scripture about the world, and to inform their interactions with those they will live, play, learn, and work alongside." Thus, The New City Catechism's goal is "summarizing God's truths into digestible questions and answers so that as our children experience life and the world around them, they are able to understand" God, man, key truths about each, and how they should live as a result.

This particular catechsim is 52 questions and answers separated into three categories:
- God, Creation & Fall, Law
- Christ, Redemption, Grace
- Spirit, Restoration, Growing in Grace

I love summaries, and this is no exception; I hope to work through it with the family in the coming weeks. Like the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms, this contains valuable truths distilled into a succinct and potent form. The format is done well, too. Recommended.

[Jeremy Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great coverage of biblical and theological truths. I like that there are short and long answer options for different aged children. The accompanying Scripture verses are well-chosen, and the ideas are organized in key themes and progress systematically from one idea to the next. The weakness of this Catechism is that the wording can be convoluted, unclear, and difficult to memorize. Also, the authors's compulsion to adhere to accurate doctrinal truths (generally an excellent goal) sometimes overrides a greater goal of conveying biblical truths in a memorizable way and with simplicity for children. In other words, their effort to 'stave off' potential misunderstandings of doctrines results in them trying to say too much in too small of a space.

[Maya Joelle]

This does a fair job of taking some of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity and putting them into modern language in a question-answer format. I wouldn't recommend it as your only catechism, but it's a decent introduction. Tries to be ecumenical, which makes it a bit bland, and it is definitely Reformed in its exposition of salvation and the sacraments, and (sadly) lacks any explanation of the creed and Lord's Prayer (though it does talk about them briefly).

Read free here: http://newcitycatechism.com/new-city-...

[Jessi Schwind · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read through this once and now we are working on memorizing each catechism. The questions/answers are easy enough for my 5 year old and even my 3 year old can recite some. I'm hoping knowing these simple truths about God and his Word will help build a firm foundation.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the strongest modern catechism crafted, and a good introduction to this kind of resource.

[Nathaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was our family devotional for the first bit of the year and it was really good. We would discuss the questions and look for answers. I thought it was fun and meaningful.

[Chris Collier · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent resource to walk through slowly or (as I did this morning) read prayerfully in one sitting, seeing the broad scope of creation, fall, redemption, & restoration all at once.

[J. Amill Santiago · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, excellent little catechism. The feel and design of the book itself is very slick and easy to understand.

[Jake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Low intellectual engagement, low emotional engagement, and limited authorship. Not a favorite.

The premise of this book was interesting to me -- to dive into tenants of the Christian faith throughout time, but in the end, the short chapters were neither that thought provoking (lacking in detail, and seriously lacking in nuance), nor were they that emotionally engaging to me.

Beyond this, I was disappointed to find that in the 23 "historical commentators", only 3 fall into a non-white/non-western perspective -- and they all belong more to the ancient world (Athanasius, Augustine, Chrysostom). And in the "contemporary commentators", 14 of the 20 are white guys (all American, I think, though I didn't look that closely).

43 writers, 43 men.

Now, I know that this is coming from TGC, which I think is largely or completely complementarian, but i find it interesting that this extended even to the point where not one voice of a woman is present, apart from two quotes from women endorsing the book on the back (while still pointing out that yes, these two women wrote books, but they mostly write books primarily for women).

I'd be less bothered if this were specifically built to be a resource for TGC or American evangelicalism, but the sense that I got is that this is a presentation of the gospel in full.

It seems difficult to have a full presentation with this limited selection of voices.

[Noel Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this up at the 2017 Gospel Coalition Conference. It's a wonderful little resource for family worship. 52 questions that can be used for adults and an abbreviated answer to the questions for kids. Many think catechisms are for Catholics, but in reality they have been part of the church since it's inception. It wasn't until recently that the practice faded away. There is also an app that goes with it and has all the material. The kid mode of the app is phenomenal. Changes the answers to abbreviated versions and has a song with every question. Plan to use this in my family.

[Jason Kanz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember my old green catechism book. I can't say I was particularly fond of it. And yet… And yet, it was important for my spiritual formation in ways I didn't know at the time. The new city catechism has flavors of the Heidelberg, but is seemingly much more accessible. Perhaps it's because I'm an adult now, but regardless, it's organization 52 questions and answers makes it very usable for a generation of catechesis.

[Sam Knecht · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great resource for families or roommates to learn basics of the Christian faith together. Each question/answer has a corresponding Bible verse or passage. All contents of this book are available for free at www.newcitycatechism.com.

[Matthew Gasperoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great modern but biblically solid catechism for today's generation. While I love and rely on the old catechisms, this book is beautifully written and suitable for all ages, with easy readability. We incorporated it into our daily family worship to navigate through the questions and scripture references as they sparked meaningful discussions, especially as they often aligned closely with our daily Bible readings. I also appreciate how each answer is provided in both a full and shortened version, making it useful not only for all ages but also for focusing on the key aspects of the question. I believe that learning these catechisms is essential for all of us to be reminded of the fundamentals we sometimes overlook. This book serves as a wonderful tool to answer, explain, and understand in a clear manner. The book itself is beautifully printed and well-organized, making it a valuable addition to your reference shelf. You can go through it at your own pace, fitting it into your family's routine as needed.

[Nick Cleyman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book does a lot of the extremely basic things well. It backs some of its answers with scripture and gives very basic, but useful answers to some important questions.

However, a few of the answers lean extremely calvinistic which is great if you dig that, but I simply don’t agree with a few of the things said in the book. It rides a very fine line between old school catholic theologies and more modern truths… Seems that the book contradicted itself at times and didn’t really know what it wanted to say or believe.

It stated in the core values of Christian faith that we believe in the catholic church, but then also said that you aren’t saved by works. You aren’t saved by works, but catholics think you are, so which is it?

It also worded some things about baptism and communion extremely poor and pretty vague where again, you aren’t quite sure what the book actually believes.

This would be a good book for kids or a devotional for new christian’s. HOWEVER, discernment and some explanations/filtering should be used with some of them.