Talk:Catechesis

Catechumens and conversion
Should this entire section simply be deleted? It seems to be an opinion piece.

I deleted this sentence because it is confused about what a catechumen is and is pure opinion:


 * It is therefore debatable if the idea of sudden conversion, promulgated by many evangelical parts of the Church, is in any way incompatible with the catechumenate.

Here's the definition of catechumen from the beginning of the article:


 * In ecclesiology, a catechumen (/ˌkætɪˈkjuːmən, -mɛn/; via Latin catechumenus from Greek κατηχούμενος katēkhoumenos, "one being instructed", from κατά kata, "down" and ἦχος ēkhos, "sound") is a person receiving instruction from a catechist in the principles of the Christian religion with a view to baptism.

The basis for this opinion seems to be this claim, also not backed with a citation:


 * While there are examples of people being immediately baptised after having declared their faith, it seems that this was the exception rather than the rule (see above)[citation needed].

It's easy to make a list of people who were baptized immediately upon conversion in the New Testament. I can't think of examples of people who first underwent a long period of instruction. That seems to be a later development.
 * Previous text is unsigned and undated, probably because of splitting some previous edit with a section heading. Possibly next section is continuation of this, but I am not assuming it, so I comment here.
 * St. Augustine was among those enrolled as a catechumen as an infant, and did not receive baptism until he was in his thirties. He, and other Fathers, fulminated against the practice.
 * From context before this sentence I can't clearly see if the practice st Augustine fulminates against was deathbed conversion, late baptism like his or something else.
 * Making that clearer would be welcome. Ading a source (to his text, where he does it, if possible) would be awesome. Marjan Tomki SI (talk) 10:19, 18 November 2020 (UTC)

[Untitled]
Please tell me your ideas, where the cathehumans stated on galleries or not?

Came here from the "destubbification" link. has this topic been destubbified or not (new user, unsure of the rapidity of edits or the exact definition of "stub"). Jeremynicholas 16:39, 14 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Have added a paragraph showing the "flow" from interested party to baptized Christian, and added a few comments relating to your point on their occupying galleries in the church buildings.

The additions to the first paragraph in "Christian practice", about the disciples that Paul found and the second-century practice, may not add much to the article and there may be a better way of putting the information in. Jeremynicholas 17:24, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Have now substantially added to the article to de-stubbify it more. Another couple of paragraphs on denominational practice and catechumens during the middle ages and the project will be finished. However, would be good if someone can review this! Jeremynicholas 16:30, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Has two meanings
The term catechumens can also mean a building, known in full as a House of the catechumens according to Richard Dawkins and as shown here. This should be reflected in a disambiguation page. Malick78 (talk) 10:09, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Pronunciation
In the narration of Brideshead Revisited, Jeremy Irons pronounces catechumen something like "CATCH-you-men" instead of the more familiar "cat-e-KYOO-men" (sorry for the stupid transcription, but I don't feel like struggling with the IPA right now). I can't find his pronunciation supported anywhere. Is it simply a mistake on his part (hard to believe), or is that a British pronunciation that just isn't well documented online? I'm from the US, so I've got no clue. Thanks.--Jim10701 (talk) 01:35, 24 October 2009 (UTC)


 * English orthographic "Ch" corresponding to the Greek letter Chi was traditionally always pronounced k (with a very few special exceptions, such as the prefix "arch-" when attached to words beginning with a consonant, which have no relevance to the word "catechumen" that I can see)... AnonMoos (talk) 15:06, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

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"Christian children"
It is a fact that children of Christians are considered to be Christians by most catechizing churches. There is no way for someone from outside a religious community to make a neutral determination of who is and who is not a part of it based on choice or whatever. The opinion that only those who have chosen to be Christians are Christians is POV. --JFH (talk) 15:43, 25 May 2013 (UTC)

Merge proposal
The 2017 proposal to merge Catechumen to here seems very reasonable, as much of the former article is about the history of catechesis. So, both topics overlap to a sufficient extent that they are best discussed together. Klbrain (talk) 21:16, 26 December 2018 (UTC)
 * ✅ Klbrain (talk) 21:37, 12 March 2019 (UTC)