The New City Catechism: 52 Questions and Answers for Our Hearts and Minds by Timothy J. Keller

The New City Catechism: 52 Questions and Answers for Our Hearts and Minds Reviews

• 
  Darla

  I have been reading one or two of these each Sunday all year and finished a bit early. As a modern catechism, I would give this five stars for coverage of biblical concepts and the mix of old writers like Augustine, Martin Luther, and Charles Spurgeon with modern writers like Tim Keller, Kevin DeYoung, and Thabiti Anyabwile. In comparison to my favorite, The Heidelberg Catechism, though it gets just four stars. Rounding up from 4.5 as this would be a wonderful way for a family to get to know the catechism format as a part of their devotional time together. If you are not familiar with the beauty of the original Heidelberg Catechism, I encourage you to seek it out. The very first question--What is your only comfort in life and death?--is a gospel treatise in and of itself. In fact, when my father died in 2012 the pastor focused on that Q & A for the funeral sermon.
• 
  Thomas Duell

  An excellent primer for spiritual formation in the life of the Christian. Features of the Catechism:
  1. The 52 questions are split into 3 parts for organizational and logical structure.
  2. Every answer has a shorter version highlighted that is intended for children that simplifies the message.
  3. A supporting verse for every question and answer.
  4. Virtue Keys to aid with memorization.
  5. Beautiful illustrations on every page to help communicate the concept through multiple avenues of learning.
  
  Families and small groups of believers would find this especially helpful for study, memorization, establishing the walls of orthodoxy, and conversation starting.
• 
  Matthew Manchester

  A great Catechism that has shorter answers for smaller children and longer answers for older children. It's basically a modified version of the Heidelberg Catechism.
  
  We love that it has an accompanying album online that puts the questions to songs. Now that we've gone through the whole book, we're going back through it memorizing a question a week.
  
  Very glad I received this resource.
• 
  Kaitlyn Pindak

  I enjoyed these! Highly recommend going through both the children’s and the adults accompanying book together!
  
  But what I especially loved was creating a Spotify playlist of hymns and modern hymns to go with this linked here ⬇️ :
  
  
  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5Jm...
  
  4.25/5 🌟
• 
  Ruth

  I like this a lot. I especially like the simplified versions for young children.
• 
  Ray johanson

  Quite incredible. So simple but so profound. As someone whose been in the faith for years it was nice to go back to the basics and reconnect with the beauty of the simple gospel
• 
  Connor Longaphie

  I read this when it came out a while back. Seeing the average rating I must ask what are you all thinking?! Have you not read the historic confessions? The one redeeming quality of this catechism is that it doesn't explicitly disagree with the historic confessions. That being said that one thing is quite a good quality to have BUT when writing or teaching it doesn't only matter what you DO say, but what you do NOT say. The way the rise of Evangelical non denominationalism and liberalism came was watered down confessions. In essence everything the new city catechism stands for is a watering down. Some may say, oh, but we agree, this is infact for children only. Well, that also left to the down fall of proper theological nourishment in the church. People think catechism are for children because of things like this. Children can fully understand the Westminster shorter catechism, the larger catechism, the Heidelberg catechism, the genevan catechism. The new city catechism was not is not and will never be useful or helpful never recommend this never buy it, don't support it. Glad to see confessions and catechisms are still being written and that they're still in line with the historic confessions and cstehcisms, but not like this. This is not how to theologically inform your congregation. I'm also not a Keller fan.
• 
  Barry

  This book is intended to help the entire family to learn and memorize 52 items of the catechism. A worthy goal. Learning the specific doctrines of orthodox Christianity has been a practice woefully neglected, much to the detriment of the American evangelical church. This simple and truncated version is ostensibly based on the Westminster Shorter Catechism, but substitutes the famous first question of the Westminster ("What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever") with "What is our only hope in life and death? That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ." That's nearly identical to the Heidelberg Catechism. But I'm quibbling. They're both good. I'd better get to memorizing!
  
  PS: if reading more about the catechism sounds at all intriguing, Kevin DeYoung's book "The Good News We Almost Forgot" is a wonderful unpacking of the Heidelberg Catechism
• 
  Jacob London

  Sorry for the low rating for those of you who loved the catechism. Still, I find it redundant and without purpose. The Westminster Shorter Catechism is already available for those who cannot memorize long answers. The WSC was also provided to make sure that the essentials were available in a compact form. Yet, the New City Catechism is lacking in many of those essential doctrines for the sake of being ecumenical. Also, in their effort to make it simple and clear, it becomes almost too simple for people such as myself to appreciate. The whole time I read this my thinking was, "I should be reading the Heidelberg right now."
  
  I give it two stars because I can still appreciate the desire to teach catechism to children. There needs to be a resurgence of catechism for children as well as adults, but I don't think this catechism will provide the answers needed that many other catechisms provide.
• 
  Jeremy

  This
  website provides some answers for why a new catechism might be helpful. For example, this catechism is shorter (only 52 Q&As, compared to 107 or 150), and the language has been modernized.
  
  TGC comments
  here. WORLD comments
  here. Comment comments (interview really)
  here. Website (with videos and music)
  here.
• 
  Benjamin

  Un beau cadeau pour le monde francophone. Un livre pour s'émerveiller à nouveau devant les belles vérités de la foi chrétienne.
• 
  Becky

  First sentence: "Catechism--with our kids?" Years ago that was my response when someone suggested that we begin doing a catechism with our very young, very active boys. But, to my amazement, it was a truly wonderful experience.
  
  The New City Catechism is a CATECHISM written for adults with children in mind. Do you have to have children in your life to benefit from The New City Catechism? NO. I wouldn't think that's a must. But if you do have children in your life--your own children, grandchildren, or students in a Sunday School or VBS environment--I highly recommend this as a must-have resource.
  
  

  Deuteronomy 6:4-9
  “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

  
  

  Deuteronomy 11:18-21:
  “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.

  
  

  Psalm 145:4
  One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.

  
  Each spread includes a question--there are fifty-two questions in all--an answer, a supporting Scripture passage, and a tiny icon. The icons represent "a response to God that flows from each question." There is a key to the illustrated icons. The icons are awe, forgiveness, gratitude, honesty, hope, humility, joy, love, perseverance, and trust. The book includes a list of memorization tips.
  
  For very young children, there is an abbreviated answer to each question--this abbreviation is highlighted.
  
  I would also recommend that parents download the FOUR FREE musical albums that go with the New City Catechism. There are songs for each question and answer.
  

  Question One
  What is our only hope in life and death?
  Answer One
  That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.
  Scripture Passage: Romans 14:7-8; Icon: Forgiveness

  
  

  Question Two:
  What is God?
  God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in his power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will.
  Scripture Passage: Psalm 86:8-10, 15; Icon: Awe
• 
  Maya Joelle

  This does a fair job of taking some of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity and putting them into modern language in a question-answer format. I wouldn't recommend it as your only catechism, but it's a decent introduction. Tries to be ecumenical, which makes it a bit bland, and it is definitely Reformed in its exposition of salvation and the sacraments, and (sadly) lacks any explanation of the creed and Lord's Prayer (though it does talk about them briefly).
  
  Read free here:
  http://newcitycatechism.com/new-city-...
• 
  Samuel

  Probably the strongest modern catechism crafted, and a good introduction to this kind of resource.
• 
  Nathaniel

  This was our family devotional for the first bit of the year and it was really good. We would discuss the questions and look for answers. I thought it was fun and meaningful.
• 
  Chris Collier

  An excellent resource to walk through slowly or (as I did this morning) read prayerfully in one sitting, seeing the broad scope of creation, fall, redemption, & restoration all at once.
• 
  J. Amill Santiago

  Excellent, excellent little catechism. The feel and design of the book itself is very slick and easy to understand.
• 
  Noel Burke

  Picked this up at the 2017 Gospel Coalition Conference. It's a wonderful little resource for family worship. 52 questions that can be used for adults and an abbreviated answer to the questions for kids. Many think catechisms are for Catholics, but in reality they have been part of the church since it's inception. It wasn't until recently that the practice faded away. There is also an app that goes with it and has all the material. The kid mode of the app is phenomenal. Changes the answers to abbreviated versions and has a song with every question. Plan to use this in my family.
• 
  Jason Kanz

  I remember my old green catechism book. I can't say I was particularly fond of it. And yet… And yet, it was important for my spiritual formation in ways I didn't know at the time. The new city catechism has flavors of the Heidelberg, but is seemingly much more accessible. Perhaps it's because I'm an adult now, but regardless, it's organization 52 questions and answers makes it very usable for a generation of catechesis.
• 
  Sam Knecht

  A great resource for families or roommates to learn basics of the Christian faith together. Each question/answer has a corresponding Bible verse or passage. All contents of this book are available for free at
  www.newcitycatechism.com.
• 
  Jake

  Low intellectual engagement, low emotional engagement, and limited authorship. Not a favorite.
  
  The premise of this book was interesting to me -- to dive into tenants of the Christian faith throughout time, but in the end, the short chapters were neither that thought provoking (lacking in detail, and seriously lacking in nuance), nor were they that emotionally engaging to me.
  
  Beyond this, I was disappointed to find that in the 23 "historical commentators", only 3 fall into a non-white/non-western perspective -- and they all belong more to the ancient world (Athanasius, Augustine, Chrysostom). And in the "contemporary commentators", 14 of the 20 are white guys (all American, I think, though I didn't look that closely).
  
  43 writers, 43 men.
  
  Now, I know that this is coming from TGC, which I think is largely or completely complementarian, but i find it interesting that this extended even to the point where not one voice of a woman is present, apart from two quotes from women endorsing the book on the back (while still pointing out that yes, these two women wrote books, but they mostly write books primarily for women).
  
  I'd be less bothered if this were specifically built to be a resource for TGC or American evangelicalism, but the sense that I got is that this is a presentation of the gospel in full.
  
  It seems difficult to have a full presentation with this limited selection of voices.
• 
  Adam Calvert

  It's probably actually five stars, but I tend to reserve those for books that change my life profoundly. And this book would have if I hadn't already studied the Westminster and Heidelberg catechisms.
  
  That being said, I'm very thankful for this work. It's a much needed modern catechism. The modernity about it is the language. The truth that it speaks and teaches is as ancient as it should be. Nicely packaged in 52 questions, it lends itself greatly to weekly family devotions, covering all the great and major tenants to the Christian faith.
  
  I highly recommend this as a study tool and devotional book for the whole family.
  
  P.S. If you're not wanting to spend the money on the book, you can get the catechism for free on their website, or as an app for your iPhone/iPad (and probably Android).
• 
  Josh

  I did not grow up in a faith tradition in which catechism was practice and so when I saw this work from Keller, it was intriguing. There are some things that I like about the book (the general design, the simplicity, and the biblical content) as well as some things I didn't like (most notably how they approached highlighting emphases) but overall it was a decent book. I am not sure that I would walk through this with anyone but each question caused me to pause, consider my answer, and see how the answers illuminated truth in Scripture and refresh my faith.
• 
  Emily

  I memorized the catechism using the app, actually - but it is just like the book plus the companion volume that includes commentary on each question/answer. I really found this catechism to be very helpful and interesting, encouraging and instructive. This is the first catechism I have memorized, and I think that the discipline was helpful to me. (But don't ask me to recite it now - after these few months I am very rusty, for sure!)
• 
  Josh Lange

  I think this is the third time that we have gone through this catechism as a family. Easy enough as there is the whole question and answer or a smaller version for kids. It is great to use around breakfast and let what we talk about give shape to our day. This is a great way to teach kids about the Christian faith by walking through key component such as the Lord's Prayer, the 10 commandments, and Apostles Creed.
• 
  Kenneth

  It is simple. It presents accurate doctrine. It is also ecumenical so many denominations can find it useful. I’d prefer people read the historic and longer catechisms given the option, but this certainly has a place to be useful.
  
  I don’t like the formatting. The highlighted shorter “kid answers” are distracting. The illustrations are distracting. Sometimes the supporting scripture passages don’t align.
• 
  Andrea Day

  I love the format--each week we do a different question and answer. We've been using this with the app, which is very useful, and comes with songs. My 6 year old loves the songs, which helps a lot in memorizing the questions and answers. I love that there is a simplified answer for children to learn, and a longer one for adults.
• 
  Alex Adkins

  The rating for this book is not reflective of its quality. If I was able to categorize novels into addendum devotional resources, this would be 5 stars. I used this to supplement my abiding time and there is nothing like going back to the basics and practicing memorization of some of the most frequently asked questions by people around the world.
• 
  Melissa Perret

  This has been my weekly morning devotional for the past couple of months, and I've enjoyed it so much! It has 52 entries that ask fundamental questions from the Christian faith and then answers them using a combination of scripture, historical commentators, and contemporary commentators. It never hurts to go back to the basics!
• 
  Evan Steele

  Exceptional.
  
  If you are looking for a catechism I would start here. Very well rounded. Theologically straight forward and with a deep roots in historic catechisms.
  
  If anyone has a modern catechism that they prefer please let me know.
  
  Catechism is a very useful spiritual discipline that sits largely unused by the evangelical church.