November 2007 - Protestant Reformed Churches in America
November 2007 - Protestant Reformed Churches in America
November 2007 - Protestant Reformed Churches in America
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<strong>Protestant</strong> <strong>Reformed</strong> Theological Journal<br />
… <strong>in</strong> prepar<strong>in</strong>g a catechism sermon, the preacher first ought to<br />
locate a pert<strong>in</strong>ent Bible text related to the particular catechism questions<br />
and answers for that week. He ought to study that Biblical text<br />
with all the tools at his disposal—lexicons, commentaries, sermonic<br />
helps, etc. From that study of the Biblical text, a sermon outl<strong>in</strong>e<br />
gradually will emerge. He then will <strong>in</strong>corporate the catechism materials<br />
<strong>in</strong>to his sermon outl<strong>in</strong>e to expla<strong>in</strong> the Bible text further or to<br />
assist <strong>in</strong> the application of that text to the faith and life of the church<br />
members. But the start<strong>in</strong>g po<strong>in</strong>t and the outl<strong>in</strong>e of the sermon ought<br />
to rise from the Scripture text, not the catechism text. 44<br />
Kloosterman takes issue with Lankheet’s method of Catechism<br />
preach<strong>in</strong>g and <strong>in</strong>sists on the “catechism-text” method. He defends<br />
this method <strong>in</strong> light of the language of the Church Order,<br />
which requires that the m<strong>in</strong>ister shall preach “… the Word as summarized<br />
<strong>in</strong> the Heidelberg Catechism.”<br />
… the content of the Catechism sermon is to be the-Word-assummarized-<strong>in</strong>-the-Heidelberg-Catechism.<br />
That is to say: What is<br />
to be expla<strong>in</strong>ed is the ‘sum of Christian doctr<strong>in</strong>e’ confessed by the<br />
church <strong>in</strong> her Catechism. 45<br />
Kloosterman goes on to fault Lankheet for present<strong>in</strong>g a false dichotomy<br />
between preach<strong>in</strong>g Scripture and preach<strong>in</strong>g the Heidelberg<br />
Catechism. Preach<strong>in</strong>g the Catechism, accord<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
Kloosterman, is the preach<strong>in</strong>g of Scripture.<br />
In an article entitled “Preach<strong>in</strong>g the Heidelberg: A New Look<br />
at the Tradition of Catechetical Preach<strong>in</strong>g,” Wayne Brouwer identifies<br />
three ma<strong>in</strong> approaches to preach<strong>in</strong>g the Heidelberg Catechism.<br />
He calls those three approaches: “1. Catechism as Homiletic<br />
Text, 2. Scriptural Exposition, and 3. Doctr<strong>in</strong>al-Topical.” 46<br />
44. Randal Lankheet, “Response to Rev. Kloosterman,” <strong>in</strong> The Outlook,<br />
January 1988, p. 16.<br />
45. Nelson Kloosterman, “Catechism Preach<strong>in</strong>g: Assumptions and<br />
Methods <strong>in</strong> Catechism Preach<strong>in</strong>g,” <strong>in</strong> The Outlook, January 1988, p. 14.<br />
46. Wayne Brouwer, “Preach<strong>in</strong>g the Heidelberg: A New Look at the<br />
Tradition of Catechetical Preach<strong>in</strong>g,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>Reformed</strong> Worship, December<br />
1992, pp. 38, 39.<br />
22<br />
Vol. 41, No. 1