Somewhere along the way, the home based Christian nurture of parents and the rightful oversight of catechesis by the pastors was undermined with disastrous results which abide to this day. Curriculum producers, instead of the pastors of the Church, have become the de facto arbiters of doctrine and they have found that less divisive doctrine yields more sales across denominational lines. Along the way confessions of faith and catechisms promoting doctrinal distinctions were jettisoned.

Complicating matters, teachers untrained in theology of any sort have often added to the problem by presenting the stories of the Bible as moralistic tales instead of the Divine Drama of Redemption. Moses and the Prophets have now become the mouthpieces of Aesop and his moralisms instead of the oracles of Yahweh! Over time a gradual dumbing down has occurred unabated prompting the present crisis.

This analysis is sound enough in most ways, though it oversimplifies how the Sunday School served a valid purpose in many North American communities who only encountered a preacher every so often. Those travelling preachers may have been little better trained than the local teachers! The Sunday School curriculum and societies promoting them at least allowed the Christian Community to meet for edification regularly even when the "chief catechists" in the Packer-Parrett paradigm were absent. In the end, the book concludes the Sunday School can have a vital role in the overall process of catechesis in the church as long as it sees itself as part of the larger endeavor Grounded in the Gospel describes.

Grounded in the Gospel does an excellent job of discussing the various models for catechesis that we see throughout church history:

1. The ancient catechumenate
2. The catechism of children envisioned by the great Reformation and Post Reformation catechisms,
3. The Puritan vision of "whole congregation" catechesis which modern research indicates likely can be traced back to the Reformation and Bucer's doctrine of the Church and pastoral ministry, and
4. The modern Roman effort to renew the ancient catechesis patterns in the Rite for the Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA).

Most helpful are the charts that graphically depict the authors' developing argument in each chapter. These charts clarify and summarize the text extremely well to help the reader stay on track as the authors move from describing catechesis’ Biblical basis, its working history, its necessary doctrinal and practical content, its underlying theological and educational theory, its practice and, finally, to its theoretical implementation in the modern parish.

For those previously unfamiliar with the topic of catechesis, Packer and Parrett have produced an invaluable summary of the field that could, arguably, only be improved at a few points. The book even discusses musicology and catechesis. In the age of the "7-11 Song" where we sing the same seven words loosely about God 11 times, we are reminded that our music itself catechizes. The question remains – how well does our music catechize?

Church music either helps one fulfill the command to edify one another with profound words about a profound Savior or it doesn't. To that end, Parrett includes some sample catechism songs from his work as a hymnist. The collection of catechism songs Parrett co-authored is available under the title Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs¹ which includes a strong array of modern Psalm and specialized hymn settings for catechesis.

Grounded in the Gospel has been criticized by one critic with postmodernist leanings as diminishing the value of Bible stories themselves and elevating certain summaries of the "Gospel" in such a way that they replace the nuanced message of scripture with a modern Gnostic “pseudo Gospel”. This criticism was completely unfounded.  In reality the book's attack on "Bible stories" is an attack on moralism, not an attack on the narratives of scripture in the redemptive historical context.

While it's obvious that Packer and Parrett see the goal of catechesis as allowing one to effectively retell the essence of the Gospel, the summaries they present are biblical ones. As a result, one cannot easily argue against their goal without arguing against the Bible itself. In fact, Grounded in the Gospel goes out of its way to relate a variety of possible frameworks for catechesis. They certainly note the validity of the narrative story line as a possible framework.

How could Packer and Parrett not recognize the strength of the narrative approach to catechesis? They routinely note how the ancient catechumenate studied the "whole scriptures" and were very familiar with the Bible's overall narrative of "Creation to Christ" as one version of this narrative presentation is called. It's not as if they are saying the goal of catechesis is to reproduce B.B. Warfield's chart on the order of decrees from his book The Plan of Salvation.²

Readers will also note the overall irenic tone of Grounded in the Gospel... the Roman Rite for the Christian Initiation of Adults is reviewed appreciatively and the Roman Communion and Eastern Orthodox are given their due. Oddly, chapter 5 entitled The Gospel as of First Importance departs briefly from the ecumenical love fest as time is taken to drub both the "Emerging Church" and the "New Perspective(s) on Paul". Reading this chapter in April 2010 one wonders if the warnings are not overblown?

As Grounded in the Gospel is hitting the bookstore shelves, informed observers are already saying "Farewell to the Emerging Church"³ . What once presented itself as a "New form of Christianity" with Rockabilly Hairstyles, Tattoos, Indie Rock Bands and Indeterminate Theology which promoted itself as a new "sui generis" "Church of the Future" has now already morphed before our very eyes! The phenomenon that puzzled us with its claims to uniqueness is today relatively easily identified as groups sporting Rockabilly Hairstyles, Tattoos, Indie Rock Bands and a discernable theology whether Liberal, Charismatic, Reformed Baptist, or Anabaptist along the old recognizable theological fault lines.

Next, the reader is warned about the "New Perspective(s) on Paul". The book makes clear that a number of the concerns of “New Perspective(s)” adherents may, in fact, be legitimate. In an odd footnote (number 15, p. 215) there is an admission that this may not really be a movement and that there is great diversity among those associated with the “New Perspective(s) on Paul”. Nevertheless the allegation is made that that some in this group hold a “Roman Catholic” view regarding the impartation of righteousness instead of the Reformational view of imputed righteousness; the footnote at this point is to John Murray’s Redemption: Accomplished and Applied instead of a reference to a Romanist in Geneva gown.

Subsequently (p. 103) Grounded in the Gospel goes on to assert that “many” in the “New Perspective(s)” group define justification as the transformation of character instead of a forensic declaration of righteousness. No footnote is given for this claim. By the end of the page it sounds as if Grounded in the Gospel is defending the doctrine of faith as mere mental assent to preserve the doctrine of sola fide even though Reformed scholars such as R.C. Sproul insist that truly biblical faith requires more than mere assent.⁴ Pages 104-106 lists a number of dangers but they are not footnoted to specific parties associated with the “New Perspective(s)”. The lack of documentation makes these serious allegations seem strangely vague compared to clarity displayed in the balance of the work.

Chapter 2 on the scriptural basis of catechesis does an excellent job of enumerating the many biblical concepts that make the task of catechesis an obvious Christian duty. One might have hoped here for dialog with the Anglican scholars Carrington⁵ and Selwyn⁶ . They noted that a variety of epistles within the New Testament canon reflect a common apostolic agenda for catechizing converts to the Christian faith. The existence of such an underlying approach to catechesis would point to a direction in the application of catechesis that we might otherwise neglect, but which the apostolic authors considered vital. Such study likewise highlights the underlying unity of New Testament ethics and yields important clues to the interpretation of the Old Testament cultus in light of Christ’s coming.

The challenge ahead though is for the local pastor who wished to implement this advice. Those planning to purchase this book who wonder how it might be implemented should recognize this book will give them the tools to evaluate their congregation’s present evangelism and discipleship programs and see how the present “mix” in a given congregation can be woven together to achieve the ends Packer and Parett discuss so effectively.

Unfortunately, except for Robert Webber’s Journey to Jesus⁷ literature and the RCIA, few modern working examples of a catechumenate in action are mentioned to readers of Grounded in the Gospel. The pioneering work, for instance, of Lutheran catechist pastor Rev. Peter Bender might have been mentioned here⁸ . The Evangelical Covenant Church’s 2 year The Journey⁹ curriculum through the Old and New Testaments which is designed for youth but adaptable to adults might also have been constructively highlighted. Perhaps a separate study should be devoted to such working models at a later date.

Expect the task to begin with the question… how do people come to Christ in your congregation? For most congregation the answer is simple – somewhere else. If that’s the case where you serve, you’ll be encouraged to consider using Christianity Explored¹⁰ as their preferred method of evangelism, i.e. “protocatechesis” that sets the stage for future learning. The period between the initial profession of faith and baptism/confirmation is then devoted to catechesis proper to master the basic elements of scripture knowledge Packer and Parett unfold. Thereafter, the environment of online learning should be created in the congregation to deepen the basic knowledge passed on to the catechumen.

Some churches have been blessed to have “catechisms” in their history and there is a historic precedent for reviving the practice. (Even many Baptist churches that consider themselves “catechism free” will find many catechisms used over their history!¹¹ ) But if your congregation has no heritage of catechisms, Grounded in the Gospel makes the case that it is still vital and possible to do thorough catechesis even in an environment where the church emphatically believes they have “no Creed but Christ and no Book but the Bible”.  Doing catechism well is a careful process of imparting truth that is not limited to having a document called a “catechism” per se.

Purchase Grounded in the Gospel by J. I. Packer and Gary Parrett at the Colson Center Book Store.