“Thou Shalt Believe in One God” Cover Image
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„V jednoho Boha věřiti budeš“
“Thou Shalt Believe in One God”

The Anonymous Heritage of Canisius’ Catechisms

Author(s): Dominik Opatrný
Subject(s): Theology and Religion
Published by: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci
Keywords: Decalogue; First Commandment; Augustine of Hippo (354–430); Canisius, Peter (1521–1597); Catechism

Summary/Abstract: Czech Catholics use a special form of the first commandment of the Decalogue, which could be translated “Thou shalt believe in one God”. Although it allegedly origi¬nates with Augustine, it is in fact a much later composition used only in the Czech and German versions. An inquiry revealed that it was first used by Peter Canisius in the German version of his Short Catechism (probably 1568, but at latest 1575). Canisius dared to reformulate the first commandment because others had done it before: using either another biblical commandment “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him” (Deuteronomy 6,13; Matthew 4:10) or even the short summary “unum credas deum”. Canisius’ version spread in monotheistic Europe as it was more comprehensible and easier to remember. It was incorporated into the Austrian Great Catechism for schools (1777), which was also translated into Czech (1778). From this source, Canisius’ version of the first commandment spread in the Czech language space.

  • Issue Year: XXI/2019
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 75-92
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Czech