of his orthodoxy, he found himself the pastor of a jewel of a church just outside Paris, where he spent most of his career.
This translation into English by Dr. Howard Griffith is most welcomed. My friend Howard combines gifts not unlike his mentor, Pasteur Marcel. It is a labor of love and deserves wide usage in the many churches worldwide who care about doctrinal faithfulness and integrity of faith. In a contemporary culture notorious for its disdain of truth and commitment to revealed religion, many people resist any approach that tells them what to believe. They resist to their peril. In a world where “everyone does what is right in his own eyes” (Jdg. 21:25) this catechism directs us to look to God for what is right and to ask him for the power to do it. In a dark place, it is a bright light. May it be used significantly to show Christians how they may be lights in this world, moving them away from under any basket and on to the lamp stand for all to see (Mt. 5:15).
William Edgar
Professor of Apologetics
Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia
Translator’s Preface
In the mid-1980s All Saints Reformed Presbyterian Church of Richmond, Virginia, the congregation I served as Pastor, needed a course of instruction for new believers. This translation of Dr. Pierre Marcel’s book A L’ Ecole de Dieu was the result. Dr. Pierre Charles Marcel was Pastor of the Reformed Church of St. Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, for many years. He was a scholar of the Reformation, and loved its confessions and catechisms.
Rooted in the catechisms of the Reformation, this book follows the Church’s ancient practice of crystallizing the faith for newcomers by expounding the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer. It provides an introduction to the Christian life in doctrine, practice, and experience. At the same time, In God’s School provides a daily Bible reading program that covers the waterfront of basic Christian doctrine and practice, a study manual introducing students to the rich heritage of the Protestant Reformation, and a guide for classes that may serve as a forum for new Christian and unbeliever alike. Significantly, the book also fills a hole in much discipleship training by including biblical teaching on the church and the sacraments.
We used the book in our church in a course lasting about a school year. The students read a chapter each week. Each day of that week has questions to study and corresponding Bible readings (optional Bible readings are in parentheses). The teacher then presents the material on the following Sunday. Not only does the book cover the essentials of Christian living, it gives students practice in daily Bible reading from every portion of the Word of God.
Dr. Marcel did not write his book assuming that every student is a Christian. In the spirit of the Reformed churches, however, it breathes confidence in God’s covenant. There is much patient instruction. To our joy God has blessed this material to bring students to new life and faith in Christ.
“In God’s School!” This manual on Christian foundations was first published in 1946, and again in a revised edition in 1962. I came to translate it by an unusual road. In 1987 I was laid up with a serious injury, and not a little discouraged about the nature of my calling as a gospel minister. During convalescence, I read Pierre Marcel’s book The Relevance of Preaching (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1963). Through careful exposition of Scripture and rich reference to the writings of the Protestant Reformers, Marcel taught me once again God’s glorious purpose for preaching. I wrote Dr. Marcel to thank him. To my delight, I was blessed with a friendship and correspondence with Dr. Marcel until his death in 1992. God gave me the gift of the encouragement and prayers of a seasoned pastor-theologian.
Looking for his other writings, I found the only other title in English, The Biblical Doctrine of Infant Baptism, Sacrament of the Covenant of Grace (Cambridge: James Clarke, 1953, reprinted, 1981). In it were a number of references to A L’Ecole De Dieu. Dr. William Edgar, then of Aix-en-Provence, France, kindly brought me the book.
This translation is the fruit of much blessing to my ministry and the need of our congregation. I hope I have done a fair job of it. I am confident that all the basic ideas are here. Dr. Marcel approved each chapter. I am grateful for his encouraging comments and corrections. Dr. William Edgar of Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, kindly corrected the manuscript at a number of points.
In his wonderful little book Marcel weaves together two great Reformation catechisms: John Calvin’s Geneva Catechism (1541) and the Heidelberg Catechism (1563).
Through a long pastoral ministry in France, Dr. Marcel showed a love for the Scriptures, courage and faith in defending them against unbelief, sensitivity to the needs of the new believer, and devotion to the free sovereign grace of God. All shine in these pages.
It has been my privilege to live with these words for some years. I wish to thank the members of All Saints Reformed Presbyterian Church for their example of faith in Christ and their encouragement in this work. I dedicate the labor of this translation to them. May our exalted Lord Jesus Christ strengthen and establish his Church with these studies.
Howard Griffith, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology
Reformed Theological Seminary
Washington D.C.
January 2009
Dr. Marcel’s Preface to the First Edition
“In God’s School!” is a course designed for students who desire to be introduced to the foundations of the Christian faith, and put the gospel of Christ into practice. It is also for those who wish to deepen their faith and sharpen the contours of Christian thought. For the teacher, this will not be a question of another “school” or method, but a special spur to spiritual vitality. Our knowledge of salvation can never be more than the Word of God, or such as God has revealed in the Holy Scriptures. It is a Word to which we may never add, and from which we must never take away. This is the only “School of God” in which the sinful creature learns to know and love his Creator, Savior and Father, and at the same time learns to know himself and to how to give God the honor of which He is worthy.
By publishing the present catechism, I do not suppose that it either can or should replace any number of handbooks presently used in our Churches. They were written by competent men, for clear purposes, and for a well understood public. I would only assert that the present conditions, sometimes including tragic religious instruction, invite a reform of teaching methods and work. It is nevertheless a question of serious adaptation. We must take into account the desires of a great number of believers, sometimes publicly expressed,—given their needs, their sincere searching, their social milieu, perhaps also their turn of mind—most present catechisms do not address them or are unsatisfactory.
I am inclined to think that one of the basic themes of this adaptation, to which a number of pastors have given their time, is a response to the legitimate curiosity of our young catechumens, of students and adults of every condition searching for instruction in the things of God and the Christian religion. I have desired to put a catechism in their hands of sufficient size to answer their questions and facilitate their studies, . . . in a classic form and in modern language.
In the desire to adapt my teaching to the present needs of my students, as a faithful response to the requirements of the Word of God I have composed this catechism, flowing from the practice of pastoral ministry, the intention of my catechumens, my proselytes, and my parishioners, first of all, but also for the use it may be to others.
It is not a personal work, a work that I have fathered. Just the opposite. I simply pass on a heritage: that of the Reformation.
