Praying the Catechism, Revised and Expanded Edition

“Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace,” Martin Luther wrote in his “Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans.” Luther was clear that faith was not an academic exercise but a deep relationship with God lived among God’s people. In Praying the Catechism authors Donald W. Johnson and Susan C. Johnson return the Small Catechism to the community as a beautiful companion on the journey of faith. At once true to the tradition and freshly contemporary, this treasure unflinchingly acknowledges the reality of human brokenness and bears witness to the promise of the hope we have in Christ. –Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Using the ever-fresh Small Catechism of Martin Luther, along with important words from the Bible and the liturgy, Pastor Don Johnson and Bishop Susan Johnson invite us to ninety days of reflection and prayer around the faith, gifts, and life made ours in baptism. Intended for an adult’s final forty-day preparation for baptism and fifty days of reflection afterward, this book is also refreshingly useful for all of us as we repeatedly come back to those life-giving waters. –Gordon W. Lathrop, author of Saving Images (Fortress, 2017)

With short reflections on each part of Luther’s Small Catechism, the reader is invited into prayer in daily life. Connecting the tradition of the catechism with the world around us today, Bishop Susan and her father encourage us, as individuals and communities, to reflect on the core of our faith in light of twenty-first-century challenges. The gentle, insightful wisdom woven in and through the questions and prayers helps to nurture a strong, grounded faith and deeper discipleship. Another gift to our full-communion relationship! –The Most Rev. Linda Nicholls, Primate, Anglican Church of Canada