On the Catechising of the Uninstructed

Augustine of Hippo

First published 405


Caput I: How Augustin Writes in Answer to a Favor Asked by a Deacon of Carthage.

Caput II: How It Often Happens that a Discourse Which Gives Pleasure to the Hearer is Distasteful to the Speaker; And What Explanation is to Be Offered of that Fact.

Caput III: Of the Full Narration to Be Employed in Catechising.

Caput IV: That the Great Reason for the Advent of Christ Was the Commendation of Love.

Caput V: That the Person Who Comes for Catechetical Instruction is to Be Examined with Respect to His Views, on Desiring to Become a Christian.

Caput VI: Of the Way to Commence the Catechetical Instruction, and of the Narration of Facts from the History of the World’s Creation on to the Present Times of the Church.

Caput VII: Of the Exposition of the Resurrection, the Judgment, and Other Subjects, Which Should Follow This Narration.

Caput VIII: Of the Method to Be Pursued in Catechising Those Who Have Had a Liberal Education.

Caput IX: Of the Method in Which Grammarians and Professional Speakers are to Be Dealt with.

Caput X: Of the Attainment of Cheerfulness in the Duty of Catechising, and of Various Causes Producing Weariness in the Catechumen.

Caput XI: Of the Remedy for the Second Source of Weariness.

Caput XII: Of the Remedy for the Third Source of Weariness.

Caput XIII: Of the Remedy for the Fourth Source of Weariness.

Caput XIV: Of the Remedy Against the Fifth and Sixth Sources of Weariness.

Caput XV: Of the Method in Which Our Address Should Be Adapted to Different Classes of Hearers.

Caput XVI: A Specimen of a Catechetical Address; And First, the Case of a Catechumen with Worthy Views.

Caput XVII: The Specimen of Catechetical Discourse Continued, in Reference Specially to the Reproval of False Aims on the Catechumen’s Part.

Caput XVIII: Of What is to Be Believed on the Subject of the Creation of Man and Other Objects.

Caput XIX: Of the Co-Existence of Good and Evil in the Church, and Their Final Separation.

Caput XX: Of Israel’s Bondage in Egypt, Their Deliverance, and Their Passage Through the Red Sea.

Caput XXI: Of the Babylonish Captivity, and the Things Signified Thereby.

Caput XXII: Of the Six Ages of the World.

Caput XXIII: Of the Mission of the Holy Ghost Fifty Days After Christ’s Resurrection.

Caput XXIV: Of the Church in Its Likeness to a Vine Sprouting and Suffering Pruning.

Caput XXV: Of Constancy in the Faith of the Resurrection.

Caput XXVI: Of the Formal Admission of the Catechumen, and of the Signs Therein Made Use of.

Caput XXVII: Of the Prophecies of the Old Testament in Their Visible Fulfillment in the Church.

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