Taking a step back and considering trends more broadly perhaps suggests missional pragmatism is behind some of the disuse or change. In a desire to be relevant or more easily understood, the catechism used and taught is changed to something newer, or often catechetical instruction is dispensed with all together.
The words of Alexander Stewart in the early years of the twentieth century might help us think this through a little more clearly:
In a time of religious declension … there is always a tendency to remove the landmarks of definite theological belief. Truth is held with a loose grasp. Its power has not become a matter of experience. Depth of conviction and clearness of enunciation give place to the specious attractions of speculative inquiry. The unyielding rock is abandoned for the shifting sands. Men lose the ‘plainness of speech’ which is a fruit of the evangelical hope and give utterance to what faith there is in them with faltering words and apologetic tone. The formulation which set forth the convictions of a more spiritual age come to be regarded as an oppressive yoke. There follows the cry for emancipation. Liberty is made to lend its name to laxity. Thus, it often happens that a revision of the Church’s creed is really a concession to unbelief. (The Free Church of Scotland: 1843–1910 — A Vindication [1910], 65. Read the full quote here.)
We’ve been living amidst religious declension for quite some time. Biblical literacy, and literacy more broadly, has been in decline for years. As our understanding of the Bible has lessened, as a generation turned away from the creeds and confessions of the church of old, clear articulations of faith have fallen on hard times. Questioning and doubting, scoffing and disbelief became the mark of a mind unfettered and seeking truth wherever it may lead. ‘Me and my Bible’ is another way of saying the same thing: I am the arbiter of truth and can determine what is right on my own.
Colin Fast | “The Creeds and Confessions in the Life of the Church” | June 11, 2025
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