Includes the text of the latest translation of the Heidelberg Catechism (1975, updated 1988) approved by the Christian Reformed Church. Scripture references are listed in footnotes.

The Heidelberg Catechism, first approved in 1563, is a confessional document of the Protestant movement considered one of the most ecumenical of the confessions. Published to coincide with the catechism's 450th anniversary, this book explores the Heidelberg Catechism in its historical setting and emphasizes the catechism's integration of Lutheran and Reformed traditions in all of its major doctrines. An appendix contains a translation of the Heidelberg Catechism recently prepared and adopted by three of the Reformed denominations that recognize the catechism as one of their confessions: the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Reformed Church in America, and the Christian Reformed Church in North America.

Examines the historical and theological background of the Heidelberg Catechism and includes the first-ever English translations of two of its major sources--Ursinus's Smaller and Larger Catechisms.

The Heidelberg Catechism, first approved in 1563, is a confessional document of the Protestant movement considered one of the most ecumenical of the confessions. Published to coincide with the catechism's 450th anniversary, this book explores the Heidelberg Catechism in its historical setting and emphasizes the catechism's integration of Lutheran and Reformed traditions in all of its major doctrines. An appendix contains a translation of the Heidelberg Catechism recently prepared and adopted by three of the Reformed denominations that recognize the catechism as one of their confessions: the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Reformed Church in America, and the Christian Reformed Church in North America.

The primary purpose of Drawn to Freedom is not to understand the Heidelberg Catechism, Eberhard Busch explains, but rather through it to understand what it means for us to believe in the merciful and just triune God. This is our God today, who always was our God, and will be our God tomorrow. This book, then, is a carefully developed, wide-ranging exploration of what it means to be a Christian in today s world. God is so committed to freedom, writes Busch, that he wants to give humans their own freedom. To unfold what this proposition means for Christians, Busch reexamines the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563 from a modern perspective and uses its question-and-answer format to propose an understanding of God s ways that still holds true for the twenty-first century. Busch also invites into the conversation past and present theologians, philosophers, musicians, and scientists with significant questions, objections, and alternative views. He probes such issues as self-understanding, personal worth, sin and forgiveness, hope and despair, and faith and love all in relation to the freedom and deliverance that he believes God desires to afford us.

The Christian's Only Comfort is the sermonic exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism by Theodore VanderGroe (1705-1784), a prominent divine of the Dutch Further Reformation. VanderGroe's exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism could be considered his magnum opus, and in some ways it was esteemed as highly by the godly in the Netherlands as The Christian's Reasonable Service of Wilhelmus à Brakel.en