CATECHISM, a compendium of instruction (particularly of religious instruction) arranged in the form of questions and an swers. The custom of catechizing was followed in the schools of Judaism and in the Early Church, where it helped to preserve the Gospel narrative. (See CATECHUMEN.) The catechism as we know it is intended primarily for chil dren and uneducated persons. Its aim is to instruct, and it differs from a creed or confession in not being in the first instance an act of worship or a public profession of belief. The first regular catechisms seem to have grown out of the usual oral teaching of catechumens, and to have been compiled in the 8th and 9th cen turies. But it is not till the first stirrings of revolt against the hierarchy which preceded the Reformation that they became at all widespread or numerous. The Waldenses of Savoy and France, the Brothers of the Common Life in Germany, and the Unitas Fratrum of Bohemia, all used the same catechism (first printed in r498) for the instruction of their children. It was based on St. Augustine's Enchiridion and considers (a) Faith, i.e., the Creed; (b) Hope, i.e., the Lord's Prayer; and (c) Love, i.e., the Decalogue.
The age of the Reformation and the invention of printing gave a great stimulus to the production of catechisms. The adherents of the "old" and the "new" religions alike had to justify their views to the unlearned as well as to the learned, and to give in simple formulas their reasons for the faith that was in them. Moreover, in the universal revolt against authority Christianity itself was in danger of perishing, not only as the result of the cul tured paganism of the Renaissance, but also through the brutish ignorance of the common folk, deprived now of their traditional religious restraints. To this peril the reformers were fully alive, and they sought its remedy in education.
In 152o Luther had brought out a primer of religion dealing briefly with the Decalogue, the Creed and the Lord's Prayer; and other leaders had done something of the same kind. In 1529 all these efforts were superseded by Luther's Smaller Catechism meant for the people themselves and especially for children, and by his Larger Catechism intended for clergy and schoolmasters. These works did much to mould the character of the German people and powerfully influenced other compilations.
In 1537 John Calvin at Geneva published his catechism for children. It was called Instruction and Confession of Faith for the use of the Church of Geneva and explained the Decalogue, the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer and the Sacraments. It was the work of a man who knew little of the child mind, and, though it served as an admirable and transparent epitome of his famous Institutes, it was too long and too minute for the instruc tion of children. Calvin came to see this, and in 1542 drafted a new one which was much more suitable for teaching purposes. This was used in Geneva and in Scotland. The Reformed churches of the Palatinate, on the other hand, used the Heidel berg Catechism (1562-63), mainly the work of two of Calvin's disciples, Kaspar Olevianus and Zacharias Ursinus. This work is perhaps the most widely accepted symbol of the Calvinistic faith, and is noteworthy for its emphasis on the less controversial aspects of the Genevan theology. As revised by the synod of Dort in 1619, it became the standard of most of the Reformed churches of central Europe, and in time of the Dutch and Ger man Reformed churches of America.
Since 1648 the standard Presbyterian catechisms have been those compiled by the Westminster Assembly, presented to par liament in 1647, and then authorized by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (July 1648) and by the Scottish par liament (Jan. 1649) . The Larger Catechism is "for such as have made some proficiency in the knowledge of the Christian religion," but is too detailed and minute for memorizing, and has never received anything like the reception accorded to the Shorter Catechism, which is "for such as are of weaker ca pacity." The work was done by a committee presided over first by Herbert Palmer, master of Queens', Cambridge, and then by Anthony Tuckney, master of Emmanuel. The Shorter Cate chism, after a brief introduction on the end, rule and essence of religion, is divided into two parts : I. The doctrines we are to believe (1) concerning the nature of God, (2) concerning the decrees of God and their execution. II. The duties we are to perform (r) in regard to the moral law, (2) in regard to the gospel—(a) inward duties, i.e., faith and repentance, (b) out ward duties as to the Word, the sacraments and prayer. It has 107 questions and answers, while that of the Anglican Church has but 24, grouping as it does the ten commandments and also the petitions of the Lord's Prayer, instead of dealing with them singly.
There was no universal catechism published by the Latin Church before the council of Trent, but several provincial coun cils, e.g., in Germany and Scotland, moved in self-defence along the lines already adopted by the reformers. The council of Trent in 1563 resolved on an authoritative work which was finally carried through by two small papal commissions, and issued in 1566 by Pius V. (Eng. trans. by Donovan, Dublin, 1829). Being uncatechetical in form and addressed to the clergy rather than to the people, it missed its intention, and was superseded by others, especially by those of the Jesuit Peter Canisius, whose Summa Doctrinae et Institutionis Christianae and its shorter form (1556) were already in the field. The catechisms of Bellarmine (1603) and Bossuet (1687) had considerable vogue, and a summary of the former known as Schema de Parvo was sanctioned by the Vatican council of 187o. But the Roman Catholic Church as a whole has never had any one official cate chism, each bishop being allowed to settle the matter for his own diocese. In England the Roman Catholic Bishops have agreed on the use of what is known as "The Penny Catechism," which is very lucid and well constructed.
Peter Mogilas, metropolitan of Kiev, drew up in 1643, the Orthodox Confession of the Catholic and Apostolic Eastern Church. This bulwark against the encroachments of the Jesuits and the Reformed Church was standardized by the synod of Jerusalem in 1672. A smaller catechism was drawn up by order of Peter the Great in 1723. The catechisms of Levshin Platon (1762) and V. D. Philaret (1839), each in his day metropolitan of Moscow, are bulky compilations which cannot be memorized, though there is a short introductory catechism, prefaced to Philaret's volume (Eng. trans. in Blackmore's Doctrine of the Russian Church, 1845) The catechism of the Church of England is included in the Book of Common Prayer. It has two parts: (i.) the baptismal covenant, the Creed, the Decalogue and the Lord's Prayer drawn up probably by Cranmer and Ridley in the time of Edward VI., and variously modified between then (r 549) and 1661; (ii.) the meaning of the two sacraments, written on the suggestion of James I. at the Hampton Court Conference in 1604 by John Overall, then dean of St. Paul's. This supplement to what had become known as the Shorter Catechism established its use as against the longer one, King Edward Vlth's Catechisme which had been drawn up in 1 553 by John Ponet, bishop of Winchester, and enlarged in 157o by Alexander Nowell, Overall's predecessor as dean of St. Paul's. By the rubric of the Prayer Book and by the 59th canon of 1603, the clergy are enjoined to teach the cate chism in church on Sundays and holidays after the second lesson at Evening Prayer. This custom, long fallen into disuse, has largely been revived during recent years, the children going to church for a special afternoon service of which catechizing is the chief feature. Compared with the thoroughness of most other catechisms this one seems scanty, but it has a better chance of being memorized, and its very simplicity has given it a firm hold on the inner life and conscience of devout members of the Anglican communion throughout the world.
Almost every Christian denomination has its catechism or catechisms. Besides those already enumerated there are two in teresting joint productions. In 1898 the National Council of the Evangelical Free Churches in England and Wales published an Evangelical Free Church Catechism, representing directly or in directly the beliefs of 6o or 7o millions of avowed Christians in all parts of the world, a striking example of inter-denominational unity. The School Catechism was issued in 1907 by a conference of members of the Reformed churches in Scotland, which met on the invitation of the Church of Scotland. In its compilation rep resentatives of the Episcopal Church in Scotland co-operated, and the book, though "not designed to supersede the distinctive catechisms officially recognized by the several churches for the instruction of their own children," certainly "commends itself as suitable for use in schools where children of various churches are taught together." Catechisms have a strong family likeness. In the main they are expositions of the Creed, the Lord's Prayer and the Deca logue, and thus follow a tradition that has come down from the 4th century, when Cyril of Jerusalem delivered his catechetical lectures. The Heidelberg and Westminster Catechisms are of a more logical and independent character. The former is based on the Epistle to the Romans, and deals with the religious life as (I) Repentance, (2) Faith, (3) Love. Under these heads it dis cusses respectively the sin and misery of men, the redemption wrought by Christ (here are included the Creed and the Sacra ments) and the grateful service of the new life (the Decalogue). See the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, s.v. (A. J. G.) CATECHOL, PYROCATECHIN or PYROCATE CHOL, ortho-dihydroxybenzene, crystallizes in white rhombic prisms, which melt at 104° and boil at ; it is readily soluble in water, alcohol and ether. Catechol, was first pre pared in 1839 by H. Reinsch in distilling catechin (the juice of Mimosa catechu) ; it occurs free in kino and in beechwood tar; its sulphonic acid is present in the urine of man and the horse. It is formed in the alkaline fusion of many resins, and may be prepared by fusing ortho-phenolsulphonic acid, o-chlorophenol, o-bromophenol and phenoldisulphonic acid with potash, by acid hydrolysis of o-phenylenediamine (see AMINES), or, better, by heating its methyl ether, guaiacol, a con stituent of beechwood tar, with hydriodic acid.
Ferric chloride gives a green coloration with aqueous catechol, while its alkaline solution rapidly changes to a green and finally to a black colour on exposure to the air. It reduces ammoniacal silver solutions in the cold with formation of a silver mirror and alkaline cupric salts to cuprous oxide on heating.
Guaiacol may be obtained directly from beechwood tar, from catechol by methylation with potash and potassium methyl sul phate at 180°, or from anisole by nitration and subsequent reduction to amino-anisole, which is then diazotized and boiled with water. It melts at 28° and boils at 25o°. It is em ployed in medicine as an expectorant. The dimethyl ether or veratrol is also used in medicine. Many other catechol deriva tives have been suggested for therapeutic application. Guaiacol carbonate is known as duotal, the phosphate as phosphatol, the phosphite as guaiaco-phosphal; phosphotal is a mixture of the phosphites of creosote phenols. The valerianic ester of guaiacol is known as geosote, the benzoic as benzosol, the salicylic as guaiacolsalol, while the glycerin ether appears as guaiamar.
Catechol is the starting-point in the synthesis of the active principle of the suprarenal capsules which is variously known as adrenaline, epinephrine and suprarenine. The successive stages in this synthesis are catechol, chloroacetocatechol, methylamino acetocatechol (adrenalone) and inactive adrenaline, which is resolved into physiologically active /-adrenaline through the bitartrate.