ABOUT BOOK

This article presents three early catechisms for the religious education of ~children under the age of three, printed in Germany and the Netherlands. ~Two of them were best- and long sellers on the book market, while one of them ~was a commercial failure. Catechisms were influential reading primers. The ~children’s catechisms written by Jacobus Borstius, Johann Cyriacus Höfer and ~Nikolaus von Zinzendorf contained questions for children who were too young ~to read the texts themselves. Therefore, these catechisms had to be performed ~in the form of interactive read-alouds. Höfer, Borstius, and Zinzendorf used ~child-directed speech in their catechisms: short and foreseeable answers and ~a basic vocabulary to facilitate the understanding and the pronunciation of ~words in the process of language acquisition and the deliberate introduction ~of new religious vocabulary. Whereas the catechisms of Borstius and Höfer ~reckoned with pedagogical laymen and chose standardized questions and ~answers, Zinzendorf proclaimed an ideal of Socratic intercourse, enthusiasm ~and aesthetic-poetic affirmation – an ideal that exceeded the capabilities of ~average teachers and parents.