Fundamental Instruction: Justus Falckner’s Catechism

by Justus Falckner

Martin Kessler, ed. & translator

Fundamental Instruction: Justus Falckner’s Catechism (1708) is the first Lutheran catechism written and published in North America. This volume introduces an obscure colonial Lutheran theologian, provides a succinct modern survey of his catechism, reprints Falckner’s own personal introduction of the book in a public address given March 25, 1708, and then transcribes the actual text of the catechetical work. This first English translation of the original Grondlycke Onderricht marks the tercentennial of Justus Falckner’s ordination on November 24, 1703, held at Gloria Dei Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and includes reproductions from the only surviving copy of the original Dutch manuscript done by William Bradford in New York City in 1708.