III. LEARNING FROM HOW THEY DID IT

There are four key features from the catechumenate of the early church that I would like to discuss. Although the precise structure and format of the catechumenate may vary from place to place over time, there are four common features that were central to how the catechesis was carried out.

1. Immersion in the Word of God. At the heart of the early church catechumenate was reading and instructing these newcomers in the ????ure. Throughout this focused period of time, the emphasis is on exposing them to and immersing them in the Word of God. It is precisely in this ministry that the "teachers" (didaskaloi) of the church had an important ministry.

The first line of the Aponlolic Tradition that describes the catechumenate characterizes the catechumens as those who are brought "to hear the Word" (15.1; so also the Testamentum Domini 2; Oidascalia 2.39). The Canons of Hippolytus (10.1) similarly describe this as a time that the newcomer "is to be instructed in the ????ures." These early documents give little indication of how this instruction was carried out. Given the orality of the culture of that time, we could assume that vast portions of ????ure were read to the new believers. But it was also a time where teachers would provide explanations of what the catechumens were hearing.

This procedure is certainly modeled by Origen in his ministry at Caesarea. The church there held a daily service of the Word33 in which a large passage of ????ure would be read aloud followed by a sermon delivered by Origen. Pierre Nautin believes that given the length of the readings and sermons, it would have been possible to work through the entire Bible in the span of three years. This would have given catechumens the opportunity to hear the entire Bible read and commented upon during the duration of their catechumenate. Nautin believes that this may explain why the Apostolic Tradition describes a three-year catechumenate.34

The pilgrim Egeria observed that in Jerusalem, the bishop spent the first five weeks surveying the whole of the ????ure "expounding first its literal meaning and then explaining the spiritual meaning" (Egeria, Peregrinate 46).35

In his work on the catechizing of the uninstructed, Augustine strongly emphasizes how important it is for the teacher to lay out the sweep of "salvation history." he notes:

The narration is full when each person is catechised in the first instance from what is written in the text, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," on to the present times of the Church. This does not imply, however, either that we ought to repeat by memory the entire Pentateuch, and the entire Books of judges, and Kings, and Esdras, and the entire Gospel and Acts of the Apostles, if we have learned all these word for word; or that we should put all the matters which are contained in these volumes into our own words, and in that manner unfold and expound them as a whole. For neither does the time admit of that, nor does any necessity demand it. But what we ought to do is, to give a comprehensive statement of all things, summarily and generally, so that certain of the more wonderful facts may be selected which are listened to with superior gratification, and which have been ranked so remarkably among the exact turning-points (of the history) . . . We ought to dwell on them for a certain space, and thus, as it were, unfold them and open them out to vision, and present them to the minds of the hearers as things to be examined and admired. But as for all other details, these should be passed over rapidly, and thus far introduced and woven into the narrative (De Catechizandis Rudibus 3.6).

Augustine here advocates something similar to what we might call a Bible survey class in a modern curriculum. We need to keep in mind, however, that he is advocating this instruction for every new Christian.
As we consider our contemporary evangelical churches, we need to ask ourselves how well we are doing in immersing new converts in the Word of God. Are they "hearing" or reading through the bulk of the ????ure within the first three years of their walk with the Lord? Are they acquiring a grasp of the overall sweep of salvation history?
Perhaps one of the greatest dangers we face is the assumption that this will somehow automatically happen once they are saved and part of the church. The lesson from the ancient church is that there was an intentional plan to facilitate this.

2. Teach them, the central doctrines of the faith. In addition to teaching the ????ure, the teachers of the catechumenate bore the responsibility of passing on and explaining the central doctrines of the faith. This is assumed in the Apostolic Tradition, but it is made more explicit in the Apostolic Constitutions and by a variety of other writers describing the catechumenate.

The Apostolic Constitutions calls for the catechumens "to be instructed ... in the knowledge of the unbegotten God, in the understanding of His only begotten Son, [and] in the assured acknowledgment of the Holy Ghost ... in the doctrines concerning our Lord's incarnation, and in those concerning his passion, and resurrection from the dead, and assumption" (7.3.39). This is merely a representative set of categories of doctrine that the document guides the instructors to teach.

Egeria noted that in Jerusalem catechumens formally received the creed after weeks of hearing the ????ures (Egeria, Peregrinate 46). Cyril apparently used the creed in structuring the curricula for the catechumenate, but incorporated the relevant ????ural passages into his discussion. Cyril explains:

For the present, just listen and memorize the creed as I recite it, and you will receive in due course the proof from ????ure of each of its propositions. . . . And just as the mustard seed in a small grain contains in embryo many future branches, so also the creed embraces in a few words all the religious knowledge in both the Old and the New Testament (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis 5.12).3G

Harmless observes that, "While creedal phrases charted the main lines of this catechetical edifice, biblical stories shaped its interior . . . Cyril linked Creed and ????ures in a complex fashion."37 In her study of Cyril's use of ????ure, Pamela Jackson notes how Cyril expected God to impart grace for growth through his catechetical preaching: "he is proclaiming carefully organized testimonies from ????ure to the truth of God's saving plan, with the hope that through this proclamation God will draw his listeners into an experiential faith response of deeper assent, knowledge, and conversion of life."38

In reflecting on the catechetical instruction that he received at the outset of his Christian life, Theodoret (393-460) describes how he learned the Holy ????ures and received what he now believes, declares, and teaches. He then recites the Nicene Creed and other creedal statements.

Much more illustrative material from the various Fathers could be recounted here. What interests us most here is the fact that catechetical instruction not only involved hearing ????ure, but also learning the common confession of the church as summarized in creed. The tendency for the church to begin summarizing the heart of the faith in propositional statements began at the earliest stages as seen, for instance, in Paul's appeal to common creedal confession in 1 Cor 15:3-4.
The focus on learning doctrine has long been a part of a common understanding of "catechism" in Catholic and Protestant circles. Memorization of the creed was probably the main form of catechesis in the middle ages.39 The Reformers created doctrinal summaries in a question and answer format to facilitate the understanding and memorization of the doctrine. Learning these written "catechisms" became the focal point in the training of young people and converts to the faith. Other features of the early church catechumenate became less important.
Most evangelical churches today put little emphasis on providing training for new believers in the central doctrines. Some new believers' classes cover a few of the cardinal doctrines, but a systematic training in the principal doctrines of historic orthodoxy are missing in the curricula for new believers.

In his article on "Catechesis," Klaus Wegenast bemoans the post-Reformation period for putting people in a "prison of sterile memorization."40 But in the process of rejecting the dangers of boring people with doctrine the evangelical church has lost something very important. Rather than rejecting the importance of passing on the creed in new Christians' classes, perhaps the emphasis should be placed on developing teachers who can show the importance of sound doctrine, illustrate it with ????ure, and highlight its importance in relevant and interesting ways. Once again, perhaps some of this could begin with seminary teachers by developing a renewed vision for a twenty-first-century evangelical catechumenate.

3. Spiritual and moral formation. Another common theme that emerges in de????ions of the ancient church catechumenate is the renunciation of sinful life-styles and the cultivation of Christian virtue. The early church leaders were quite admonitory, direct, and uncompromising with the catechumens with regard to their life-styles.

Part of the responsibility of the church leaders was to carefully examine the occupations and practices of the new believers. Certain kinds of behaviors, lifestyles, and professions were deemed inconsistent with the faith. New believers were told in no uncertain terms that they needed to renounce these practices and quit them or they would not be able to join the Christian community. For instance, the Apostolic Tradition advises a stern admonishment to pimps and idol makers: "If one is a brothel keeper who is a caretaker of prostitutes, either let him cease or be cast out. If he is a maker of idols or painter, let them be taught not to make idols; either let them cease or be cast out" (Apostolic Tradition 16.2-3). Other crafts and professions deemed unacceptable within the life of the Christian community included charioteers, gladiators, prostitutes, magicians, enchanters, astrologers, dream interpreters, and amulet makers. The Apostolic Constitutions, Canons of'Hippolytus, Testamentum Domini, and other documents reflecting on the catechumenate reiterate these and add to them.

Sexual issues receive ample attention in the Apostolic Tradition. The document advises, "If there is one who did not dwell with a wife, let him be taught not to fornicate (porneuein), but either let him take a wife according to the law or remain as he is according to the law" (Apostolic Tradition 15.7). Further to this issue, the document states, "If there is one who has a wife or a woman who has a husband, let them be taught to be content with his wife, and the woman with her husband" (Apostolic Tradition 15.6).

Perhaps the earliest catechetical document extant is the Didache, dated by Kurt Niederwimmer to AD 110-120.41 The document was termed by Didymus a "book of cathechesis" (biblos tes katacheseos). The first six chapters of this work present a set of ethical admonitions structured around the so-called doctrine of the "Two Ways." The two ways tradition had its roots in the OT and judaism (see Ps 1:1-6; IQS 3:18-4:26; T. Asher 1:3-5; 6:4-6; et pi.). In its context here, the catechist presents the catechumens with two options: the way of life or the way of death. he commends to them the way of life, which involves the cultivation of virtue, especially the ethics taught by Jesus who preached love as the greatest commandment. he warns them against the way of death and admonishes these new believers to rid themselves of various kinds of vices and ungodly practices. Among the many vices he denounces are "adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magic arts, sorceries, robberies, false testimonies, hypocrisy, duplicity, deceit, arrogance, malice, stubbornness, greed, foul speech, jealousy, audacity, pride, and boastfulness" (5:1).

As we come to the church of the fourth century, a time when more are joining the church and there is less cost of being a Christian, Augustine calls his catechumens to a moral transformation. he expects Christians to give up drunkenness, covetousness, fraud, adultery, fornication, public spectacles, sorcery, astrology, and divination (De Calechizandis Rudibus 7.11). He now struggles in a context, however, where Christians have compromised significantly with the world and do not display the kind of moral integrity that should characterize Christians. he reflects the difficulty of training new believers in a setting where they see hypocrisy. Augustine warns that a new believer should not "let himself fancy that any such [immoral] course may be followed with impunity on his part, simply because he sees many who are called Christians loving these things, and engaging themselves with them, and defending them, and recommending them, and actually persuading others to their use ... [A new believer] must be sedulously warned against letting his hope rest on man" (De Catechizandis Rudibus 7.11).

I could easily multiply the testimony of various early Christian leaders such as Tertullian, Hippolytus, Chrysostom, and others on the importance of inculcating virtue and getting rid of sinful practices for participants in the catechumenate. Suffice it to say that strong teaching and direct admonitions on moral transformation were a very important part of the ancient church catechumenate.

As we once again think of the contemporary evangelical church context, one wonders if this is still a priority and in what contexts this kind of inquiry and admonition take place. We clearly struggle against a powerful cultural pressure not to intrude into someone else's private affairs and especially not to make any kinds of judgments about their moral behavior and life-style.

The most natural place for this to occur is in the context of relationships built either in a small group setting or in a mentoring relationship. Earning respect and the right to be heard is crucial for effectiveness in gently but firmly speaking into the life of a new believer.

A hard question that we need to ask of ourselves is whether there is an intentional and structured part of the curriculum for ministering to new believers in our churches that addresses issues of life-style and Christian behavior in a direct way. Is there a process that helps new believers confront and deal with such sin issues as sexual impurity, bitterness, rebellion, greed, and unforgiveness as well as cultic involvements and adherence to false religious beliefs?
4. Deliverance ministry. One of the common and widespread characteristics of the ancient church catechumenate was what evangelicals today might call "deliverance ministry."42 This is well illustrated by a passage from the Apostolic Tradition:

Moreover, from the day they are chosen, let a hand be laid on them and let them be exorcised (exorkizein) daily. And when the day draws near on which they are to be baptized, let the bishop himself exorcise (exorkizein) each one of them, that he may be certain that he is purified. But if there is one who is not purified let him be put on one side because he did not hear the word of instruction with faith. For the evil and strange spirit remained with him (20.3-4, 8).

The passage probably does not imply that this happened daily for three years, but speaks of a second stage of the catechumenate immediately preceding their baptism.43 This instruction appears in every versional form of the Apostolic Tradition, including the Sahidic, Arabic, and Ethiopie, implying that this was the practice in these areas of the church as well.

A similar instruction is contained in the Testamentum Domini:
And when the days approach [for the occasion of baptism], let the bishop exorcise each one of them separately by himself, so that he may be persuaded that he is pure. For if there be one that is not pure, or in whom is an unclean spirit, let him be reproved by that unclean spirit. If then anyone is found under any such suspicion, let him be removed from the midst (of them], and let him be reproved and reproached because he has not heard the word of the commandments and of instruction faithfully, because the evil and strange spirit remained in him (2.6).

Egcria attests to this practice in the Jerusalem catechumenate (Peregrinatio 46). Similarly, Cyril of Jerusalem urges the catechumens to receive the exorcisms with earnestness and goes so far as to say that "without exorcisms the soul cannot be purified" (Prochatechesis 9). In one of his writings on catechesis, speaking about an exorcism prior to baptism, he told a catechumen, "on the command to stretch out your hand, you renounced Satan as though he were there in person" (Mystagogical Catechesis 1.2).

Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Ambrose, Cyprian, Augustine, and other early Church fathers all attest to this practice. It certainly cannot be described as a practice isolated to the Roman church; it was practiced in the catechumenate in Syria, Jerusalem, Egypt, North Africa, Asia Minor, Italy, and elsewhere.

A corollary to this practice was a time of renunciation of Satan and deliverance during the actual baptismal ceremony. As the new Christians were baptized, they were also instructed to make a verbal renunciation of Satan:

And a deacon shall take the oil of exorcism and stand at the left hand of the presbyter . . . And when the presbyter grasps each one of those who will receive baptism, let him command him to renounce, saying, "I renounce you, Satan, with all your service and all your works." And when he has renounced all these, let him anoint him with the oil of exorcism, saying, "Let every spirit be cast far from you" (Apostolic Tradition 21.8-1O).44

Immediately following this exorcism and renunciation of Satan, the person being baptized would confess their allegiance to Christ in a creedal form:

I believe in the only true God, the Father, the Almighty, and his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior with his Holy Spirit, the giver of life to everything, three in one substance (homoousios), one divinity, one Lordship, one kingdom, one faith, one baptism, in the holy catholic apostolic church, which lives forever. Amen (Apostolic Tradition 21.12).
Similar to the pre-baptismal time of deliverance ministry, the practice of exorcism is also widely attested over a broad span of time.
This was a logical time for the early church to deal with the evil spiritual influences on these people as they forsook their pagan religions and magical practices to embrace the living and true God. It had long been a conviction of the OT and judaism that involvement in idolatry was tantamount to communing with unclean spirits (see Deut 32:16-17; Pss 96:5; 106:36-38; jub. 11:4-5; 1 Enoch 19:1). This was also the conviction of the apostle Paul that he expressed to the Corinthian congregation (1 Cor 10:19-21). Thus, converts from the worship of the Mother Goddess, Dionysus, Mithras, Sarapis, Isis, and all the other deities as well as new believers who had a background in magical practices, astrology, and divination were taught to renounce their former beliefs and practices. Another early Christian writer well illustrates this conviction:

Everyone who has at any time worshiped idols and has adored those whom the pagans call gods, or has eaten of the things sacrificed to them, is not without an unclean spirit; for he has become a guest of demons, and has been partaker with that demon of which he has formed the image in his mind, either through fear or love.45

This ministry of deliverance was done, however, in a wholistic approach to discipleship which simultaneously involved in-depth study of the ????ures, learning Christian doctrine, and the cultivation of a distinctively Christian life-style.

We now pose the question of how this facet of the early church catechumenate should inform contemporary evangelicalism. This is certainly the hardest feature of the catechumenate for us to consider seriously because it is so foreign to our current practice. It is also a form of ministry that runs quite counter to the prevailing naturalistic world view that has even found some inroads into the church. We face fellow Christians who tell us that be lief in demons or evil spirits is tantamount to a belief in elves, dragons, and a flat earth.46 Or we may encounter other forms of skepticism such as reflected in a quip by a recent commentator on one of Paul's letters: "A belief in the devil has lost its plausibility. Whoever today still feels threatened by the devil or believes in his fangs is probably himself in the fangs of a fanatical sect."47

Few would doubt the fact that there is an abundance of questionable, sensationalistic, and harmful practices taking place in some sectors of the church today. But could we be overreacting by denying this form of ministry altogether? Perhaps more thought, study, and effort need to be given to the task of identifying how to integrate an appropriate form of this ministry into contemporary church practice, especially given that it was a universal feature of the ministry to new believers in the early church.

If we may be tempted to dismiss this mode of ministry to new believers by considering it irrelevant to people who have been raised in a world view that is so different from first-century polytheistic culture, then we need to consider how contemporary Western culture is changing underneath our feet. The extraordinary rise in the popularity of pagan religions is well documented.48 Eastern religions, native American religions, and folk Islam are also becoming increasingly popular. This is part and parcel of a massive shift of world view tied to what is loosely called "postmodernism." One of the key features of this new trend is a quest for spiritual experience. How is the contemporary evangelical church doing at reaching and making growing disciples of people from this kind of background? Are we equipped and will we be equipped to help root and establish them in Christ? It is precisely at this point where the practice of the early church can help us gain some perspective on how to minister effectively to people with this kind of background.