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Teaching the Catechism

A woman in a yellow cardigan sits at a round table, listening intently, amidst a group engaged in conversation. The atmosphere is relaxed and social.

Belief, Prayer, Love: Living the Catechism in Parish Life.⁠ ⁠​

Two men sit in a classroom, one in a gray cap laughing. Books and a tumbler are on tables. The atmosphere is relaxed and engaging.

An introduction to the catechetical core of Christian life and practice, exploring how the Catechism both informs the mind and forms the heart. You will trace how the Creeds model sound belief, how the Lord’s Prayer schools hopeful, resilient prayer, and how the Decalogue trains love of God and neighbor in daily life. Drawing on Scripture, classic Anglican sources, and parish-tested practices, the course links doctrine to devotion and habit, equipping you to teach, pray, and pastor in ways that shape a community’s imagination and conduct.⁠

Your Guide to

Teaching the Catechism

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Dr. Leslie Thyberg

Professor of Pastoral and Practical Theology

Dr. Leslie F. Thyberg brings over forty years of teaching experience to Trinity. Having served as chair of the board of examining chaplains for the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, she came to know and admire Trinity's community. As Learning Skills Coordinator, she assists students with writing, study, and reading skills, applying her training in psycholinguistics. She also works with DMin students and serves on the ACNA Catechesis Task Force, co-chairing the subcommittee producing a children's catechism.

Dr. Thyberg's spiritual formation courses begin with the question: "Are you a tourist or a pilgrim?" She sees her role as dispelling false narratives—there are no "slow readers," only careful ones. Good writing is as much about pastoral care as grammar. Her office is known as the "cave of wonders" for its toys, puzzles, and catechetical materials.

What Dr. Thyberg treasures most is Thursday lunch when students' families attend. Her hope stems from knowing J.I. Packer, whose commitment to catechesis Trinity carries forward. She and her husband have lived in intentional Christian community for over three decades, raising backyard chickens with whimsical names like Flannery O'Clucker. Fun fact: at nineteen, a Bedouin offered her professor fifty camels as a bride price at Mt. Sinai.

If this is your first credit class at Trinity, or you are not taking the course as part of a degree, please complete the non-matriculated application. A bachelor’s degree is required to obtain credit.
To register to audit a Master’s Level course, please complete an audit application.

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