Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 08:1 (Winter 1965)
Article: “The Heidelberg Cathechism — An Ecumenical Creed?”
Author: Fred H. Klooster

BETS 8:1 Winter 1965) p. 23

“The Heidelberg Cathechism —
An Ecumenical Creed?”

Fred H. Klooster

The four-hundredth anniversary of the most widely used Reformed catechism has been celebrated recently. The Heidelberg Cathechism was commissioned by Frederick III, elector of the Palatinate, and published by him on January 19, 1563. Its chief authors were Zacharias Ursinus, a twenty-eight year old professor of theology at the University of Heidelberg, and Caspar Olevianus, a gifted young court preacher of twenty-six.

In an editorial the Christian Century has spoken of the anniversary of this Catechism as “more than a memorial” and called attention to the present-day ecumenical significance of the Heidelberg Catechism. This editorial is both challenging and perplexing to one who as minister and professor in a church which requires of its ministers at least once per Sunday “to explain the sum of Christian doctrine comprehended in the Heidelberg Catechism so that as much as possible the explanation shall be annually completed, according to the division of the catechism itself, for that purpose.”1

“Two young men,—one 28, the other 26—may have written the confession of faith which can serve as the doctrinal basis for denominational reunion.”2 Thus begins the editorial. Asserting that it was ordered by Frederick III to “mediate Lutheran and Reformed views in a controversy which was tearing Germany apart and inflaming much of Europe,” the editorial goes on to imply that the catechism reflects the advice of Melanchthon that such an agreement should be “based on biblical simplicity, moderation, and peace” and should avoid “extremes and scholastic subtleties in theological positions.” Noting that the Catechism was a landmark in its day, the editorial states that “it remains the most attractive, ‘the most sweet-spirited’ of the confessions of faith that came out of the Protestant Reformation. Written at a time when Christendom was falling apart, the Heidelberg Catechism survives as the most ecumenical of the Protestant Confessions of faith.”

The editorial refers also to James I. McCord, President of Princeton Theological Seminary who called the catechism “a living symbol that is accomplishing in its 400th year that for which it was first prepared in the 16th century.” Mention is also made of the fact that Eugene Carson Blake in his famous San Francisco proposal for church union (December 1960) had suggested the Heidelberg Catechism as a good doctrinal basis

BETS 8:1 Winter 1965) p. 24

for agreement among the four denominations he hoped would unite. The editorial concludes with this c...