Luther's Small Catechism and Luther's Small Catechism Study Edition by Martin Luther, and: Luther's Small Catechism by Martin Luther. iPad, iPhone, and Android. (review)

Lutheran digital literati, including the church's much-sought-after Millennials, may now access Luther's most accessible teaching in two new apps for IOS and Android devices. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Augsburg Fortress and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's Concordia Publishing House now have free Small Catechism apps available for download for smart phones and tablets. They can be found by searching the App Store for Apple devices and Google Play for Android devices.

Augsburg Fortress' app (in both English and Spanish) initially includes the standard elements of the Catechism, including the Ten Commandments, Apostles' Creed, Lord's Prayer, Baptism, Lord's Supper, and Confession, along with Luther's various prayers. The text is taken from the translation by Timothy Wengert included in the The Book of Concord (2000). By making a $1.99 in-app purchase, further material becomes accessible: additional notes and illustrations, an introduction by Wengert, the household duties, marriage and baptismal services (oddly, and in a sort of bait-and-switch move, from the ELCA's Evangelical Lutheran Worship), and Luther's Preface.

The Concordia offering uses the 1986 translation that was the product of the "Synod's Task Force for Revising the 1943 Catechism" and makes the Catechism available in two types of Chinese, Portuguese, German, and Tigrigna (a language of Ethiopia and Eritrea), along with English and Spanish. It requires no in-app purchases and includes the following: Ten Commandments, Apostles' Creed, Lord's Prayer, Baptism, Lord's Supper, and Confession, Daily Prayers, Table of Duties, Christian Questions and Answers, and Luther's Preface.

Whether the Catechism itself is useful, well-written, or faithful is a matter for another discussion. As far as these apps are concerned, one has to ask what their intended purpose is. Both apps remain stuck in the pre-app past and reveal confusion about their intent, for they are simply a set of texts that could be pulled out of the digital ether in many other ways. The Catechism can already be downloaded in an ebook format for these intended devices. And its many earlier (and usually more memorizable) renditions are handily downloadable with the smart phone in most people's pockets.

These apps would be a glorious addition to the on-line Luther—if it were 2010 when the iPad was first introduced. But the steps forward in technology since that time have been immense. If the publishing houses intended greater use of and familiarity with the Catechism, they should have pushed forward with more features. Augsburg's app includes a Study Version, but has little material to expand the user's knowledge or understanding. Neither app includes links to corresponding passages in the Large Catechism or to relevant scripture passages for users who want to delve deeper. Both might have included games for help in memorization. Concordia already has a file available to create flashcards with the Tinycards app for memorizing the Catechism. A similar feature would have been a distinct advantage here.

All in all, we ought to be grateful for the catechetical crumbs that have fallen from the tables of these venerable publishing houses. But in spite of the nearly six hundred years since Gutenberg, we treat the digital world as a mere variation on movable type. Luther's explanation of the Third Petition of the Lord's Prayer says that God's kingdom comes "whenever God strengthens us and keeps us steadfast in his word." Our age offers innovative...