A Doctrinal Primer for Youth
Thirty Second Theology: Questions & Answers to Build Your Faith, Sinclair B. Ferguson. Ross-shire: Christian Focus Publications, 2026. Hardcover, 88 pages.
Though he’s one of the world’s foremost Reformed theologians, Ferguson has written this book as a simple guide to Christian truth for young people. You’ll search in vain for big words like sanctification, justification, or propitiation. Everything important in Christian doctrine is boiled down to the basics.
It consists of 78 one page chapters, each which could conceivably be read in 30 seconds. There is a question and a one paragraph answer, along with a suggested memory verse and additional Bible reading. The questions are divided into 6 sections:
- What We Believe
- Becoming and Being a Christian
- Living for God and His Glory
- The Bible and Prayer
- The Church, the Sacraments, and Our Witness to Christ
- The Future
To give you an idea of how simple Ferguson makes it, this is what you’ll find in chapter 17:
How did Jesus come into the world?
Jesus was born in the same way we are, but he was also God’s eternal Son.
Mary was Jesus’ mother, but he had no human father unlike us. That is why the Bible says that Mary was a virgin. Jesus was a small, helpless baby who had to grow like us. But, unlike us, he did not start to exist just a few months before he was born. He was always God’s Son.
Each of the chapters presents standard Reformed teaching consistent with the Three Forms of Unity and other confessions. In the Introduction, Ferguson says that he wrote this book for teens. Unless I’m wrong about how well we’re catechizing our youth, I think it would be too basic for most of our older teens. It would be more suitable for 10-13 year old church kids. However, it could also be quite useful for instructing newcomers to the church (older and younger) who have had little or no exposure to Christian doctrine – it would be a great lead-in to the Heidelberg Catechism.
