CATECHIST, CATECHUMEN kăt’ ĕ kĭst, kăt’-ĕ k(y) u mĕn, generally understood in the Early Church as respectively a person giving and a person receiving elementary Christian instruction, esp. prior to baptism. Neither word occurs in the NT. The verb from which both are derived, κατηχέω, G2994, is used in Acts 21:21 (where it clearly means simply “inform”), Romans 2:18 (where it refers to instruction in the Jewish law), 1 Corinthians 14:19 and Galatians 6:6 (where it refers to more or less formal teaching given in or in relation to the church), Acts 18:25 (where Apollos’ Christian instruction is accurate but rudimentary) and Luke 1:4. The meaning given to the last depends on, but does not determine, whether Theophilus is an official or interested outsider who has been “informed” about the outlines of Christian preaching, or a convert who has been “instructed” in them.

In the earliest period baptism apparently followed close on profession of faith (e.g. Acts 2:38-41; 8:13, 38; 9:18; 10:47; 16:15). Most baptisms so recorded are of Jews, proselytes or “Godfearers,” already instructed in monotheistic worship and the perils of idolatry and immorality; but this is hardly likely of the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:33). As, however, the proportion of doctrinally and ethically instructed inquirers declined, it would not be surprising if Christians adapted the Jewish custom of pre-baptismal instruction of converts.

The 2nd cent. sermon called 2 Clement (17:1) talks of receiving commandments “to tear men from idols and instruct (κατηχεῖν) them,” and from the 2nd cent. onward there are many references to a “catechumenate” of inquirers preparatory to baptism. Hippolytus’ Apostolic Tradition (ostensibly Rom. c. a.d. 215) seems to require three years’ preparation, but both the text and its representative character are in doubt. That rudimentary instruction was given in the early Christian community is plain enough (cf. 1 Cor 3:2; Heb 5:12f.; 6:1ff). It is likely that the interrelations of such passages as Romans 5:3; James 1:2; 1 Peter 1:6 (too close to be entirely independent, too complex to reflect direct borrowing) are due to common forms widely used by early catechists. Carrington detects a fourfold pattern, “put away,” “subject,” “watch,” and “resist” in Colossians, Ephesians, James and 1 Peter, and Selwyn a common pattern of teaching on persecution. Others see the catechists’ doctrinal instruction in “credal” passages (e.g. Phil 2:5-11; 1 Tim 3:16). Nothing suggests, however, that rudimentary instruction was restricted to candidates for baptism: Hebrews 6:1f. suggests otherwise, and even pagans noted the Christian habit of meeting to renew their moral commitments (Pliny, Epistle 96).

Bibliography P. Carrington, The Primitive Christian Catechism (1940); E. G. Selwyn, I Peter (1946), 18ff.; A. M. Hunter, Paul and his Predecessors (2 ed., 1961), 24-64; C. F. D. Moule, The Birth of the NT (1962), esp. ch. 8.