Abstract
Catechetics is a scientific discipline that deals with the process of catechesis in the context of pastoral practice of the Church. The origins of this scientific field in the Bohemian Lands dates back to 1774, when it became a part of the curriculum of the Theological Faculty of Prague University.
This paper presents the results of investigating the development of catechetics in the Bohemian Lands on the basis of written sources from the period between 1920-1994. It has been studied the development of the concept of identity catechetics and selected elements of catechesis, which are: the identity of catechesis, catechesis tasks in pastoral practice, identity and personality of a catechist and goals of catechesis, catechesis methodology and organization of catechesis.
Period under consideration was divided into three periods based on different social situations and conditions for the pastoral activities of the Church. Milestones in determining these periods are: the beginning of the communist dictatorship in 1950 and the restoration of democracy in 1990.
During the research there were collected professional works of teachers of catechesis from theological faculties, Czech theologians and Czech translations of foreign authors that relate to the subject of our research. These works have been described and analyzed.
Work provides a basic description and brief characteristics of more than one hundred publications. For each period there were chosen several publications for detailed analysis and comparison.
Development of catechetics in the Bohemian Lands during the monitored period has been described on the basis of this analysis and comparison. The achieved level of catechetics at the end of monitored period indicates Guidelines for the Catechesis issued by the Czech Bishops' Conference in 1994.
We can say that in comparison with General Catechetical Directory from 1971 there is the pedagogical approach to catechesis on very good level, but theological approach to catechesis is lagging behind this Directory.