The work here presented bears the German title, _Eine kurze Form der
zehn Gebote, eine kurze Form des Glaubens, eine kurze Form des
Vaterunsers_. It is the most important of Luther's catechetical works
prior to the Catechisms of 1529, and deserves the name that has been
given it, "the first evangelical catechism."[1]
To be sure, the name "catechism" was not applied to the _Kurze Form_
at the time. In mediaeval usage "catechism" was the name for oral
instruction in the elements of Christian truth. This instruction had
been based from time immemorial upon the Creed and the Lord's Prayer.
The decalogue held a minor place and was overshadowed by the
commandments of the church. During the later Middle Ages the influence
of the sacrament of penance gave it a higher position. It gradually
became a subject of "catechetical" instruction, but only alongside of
the other standards for the classification of sins.[2] It was the work
of Luther so to expound the Ten Commandments as to give them a
permanent place of their own in Christian instruction, side by side
with the Creed and the Lord's Prayer.
The first manuals of instruction of this kind were prepared for the
use of the priests, to guide them in the questioning of penitents, but
with the discovery of the art of printing popular hand-books for the
use of the laity became more and more common, and with certain of
these manuals Luther was familiar.[3]
From the beginning of his ministry at Wittenberg, Luther had preached
from time to time upon the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer. In
1518 his friend Agricola published a series of sermons on the Lord's
Prayer which Luther had preached in Lent, 1517.[4] In the same year
Luther published his own _Kurze Auslegung der zehn Gebote, ihrer
Erfullung und Uebertretung_.[5] The year 1519 saw the publication of
the _Kurze Form das Paternoster zu verstehen und zu beten_, and the
_Kurze und gute Auslegung des Vaterunsers vor sich und hinter sich_.[7]
The _Treatise on Good Works_[8], which is essentially an exposition of
the decalogue, was written in the early months of 1520. During the
same period the mind of Luther was frequently occupied with the abuses
of the confessional, as we learn from the _Confitendi Ratio_,[9] and
the _Kurze Unterweisung wie man beichten soil_.[10] All the material
for the first and third parts of the present work was, therefore, in
hand and had appeared in print before 1520.
In 1520 the Kurze Form came from the press.[11] It consists of three
separately composed expositions of the three chief subjects of
catechetical instruction in the Middle Ages. The expositions of the
Commandments and the Lord's Prayer are reproductions of the _Kurze
Auslegung der zehn Gebote_ and the _Kurze Form das Paternoster zu
verstehen und zu beten_. The treatment of the Apostles' Creed is new,
as is also the Introduction, in which Luther sets forth the relation
of the three parts to one another in the unity of the Christian life.
The work is not scientific and theological, but popular and religious.
Its purpose is primarily devotional, not pedagogical. The mediaeval
root out of which it grew is not to be denied. The catalogue of
transgressions and fulfilments attached to the explanation of the
decalogue shows that it is intended to be a manual for penitents, but
the spirit in which the Creed and the Lord's Prayer are explained is
not mediaeval, and the manner in which the explanations of the
decalogue are simplified and rid of the excrescences of the XV Century
hand-books shows the new evangelical conception of confession to which
Luther had attained. The division of the Creed into three articles
instead of the traditional twelve marks an epoch in the development of
catechetical instruction. The little book contains passages of rare
beauty, clouded at times, we fear, by the new language into which it
has here been put, and seldom has the _Wesen des Christentums_ been
more simply and tellingly set forth than in the treatment of the
Creed.
In 1522 Luther republished the _Kurze Form_ with a few slight changes
and a number of additions under the title _Betbuchlein_. The
_Betbuchlein_ ran through many editions, and grew in the end to a book
of rather large proportions, a complete manual of devotion.
In its original form and as the chief content of the _Betbuchlein_,
the _Kurze Form_ exercised a profound influence upon the manuals of
Christian doctrine that appeared in ever-increasing number after
1522.[12] Its influence extended to England, where Marshall's _Goodly
Primer_ (1534 and 35) offered to English readers a translation of the
_Betbuchlein_, in which, however, no acknowledgments were made to the
original author.[13]
The _Kurze Form_ is found in _Weimar Ed._, VII, 194 ff.; _Erl. Ed._,
XXII, 3 ff.; _Clemen Ed._, II, 38 ff.; _Walch Ed._, X, 182 ff.; _St.
Louis Ed._, X, 149 ff.