Overture 1

This morning the 83rd General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church approved Overture 1, from the Presbytery of Central Pennsylvania. It asks the Committee on Christian Education to consider preparing a “modern English study version” of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. One might note there are already widely available modern English renditions of the Catechism; the grounds for the overture argued that because these are under copyright, the congregations of the OPC need another version which may be used for free.

As the case was presented by the presbytery, as I read the grounds, and as I heard the speeches in favor, it seemed to me the driving rationales for the action were two:

1. the English used in the Shorter Catechism is older and can be difficult for many Americans today;
2. it can be even more challenging for non-native English speakers, who are making up an increasingly large constituency in many OPC congregations.

I’m sympathetic to both those concerns, but I’m not persuaded another modern English version will address them. To the first, elders and pastors should be teaching the Catechism in their Churches, both in group settings (such as catechetical sermons) and in individual discipleship. As they explain the concepts in the Catechism, they will necessarily make the language more transparent. In other words, the better answer to the first problem is pedagogy.

With regard to the second, the Westminster Standards have been translated into many tongues. (I first memorized the Shorter Catechism in Spanish.) Rather than ask a new convert to learn the Catechism in the strange language which is English, provide the catechumen with a copy in his or her native tongue. The catechizer can work from the English, and even use catechesis to help the catechumen improve his or her English. But as the Scriptural doctrines in the Shorter Catechism are the truths precious to the believer’s heart, they may be best learned in one’s mother tongue.