Homeschooling High School Theology

Update: This live course has concluded and is now available as a recorded course through our Subscription Service. This is a great way to learn at your own pace when your schedule allows.To subscribe or learn more: Online Catholic Courses

Homeschool Connections is thrilled to announce a series of theology courses for the fall. The first offering is Christian Anthropology. These courses can be taken individually or concurrently.

Instructor's Biography
Having had 20 years of experience in the classroom, 3 years of experience working at St. Mary's Catholic Church at Texas A&M University as one of the Campus Ministers, and Master Degrees in Humanities and Theological Studies from the University of Dallas, Monica Ashour comes to us with a breadth and depth of vision that will solidify and electrify high school students. Orthodox, passionate, and pedogogically adept, Miss Ashour reaches youth especially in the areas of Christian Anthropology, Moral Theology, and Social Ethics. Her former students come to her often with gratitude in preparing them for the various experiences that they faced in college. Here is a direct quotation from one of her former students who was a junior at the time of writing:

Miss Ashour, I wanted to thank you for preparing me in class for Shakespeare in Italy. I got so much more out of Rome because of my education (you!) prepared me for the wealth of culture and religion it offers. All I have learned in your class about Catholicism and truth made The Vatican and the major basilicas come alive for me.
--Mary M.

Theology: Christian Anthropology
Course Description
“The eternal Father, in accordance with the utterly gratuitous and mysterious design of his wisdom and goodness, created the whole universe, and chose to raise up men to share in his own divine life; and when they had fallen in Adam, he did not abandon them, but at all times held out to them the means of salvation, bestowed in consideration of Christ, the Redeemer, ‘who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature…’” (Lumen Gentium 2). As such, all humans who live according to their nature and elevated in Christ Jesus will find fulfillment and joy in life. This course seeks, then, to identify and explain aspects of human nature to which the human person is to submit so as to live the fullness of life in true freedom, for “man fully alive is the glory of God” (St. Irenaeus).

Goal: Each student, challenged and emboldened to think deeply, will receive skills to meet the challenges of living “in the world but not of the world.”

Session 1: God and man made in His image: Trinitarian Theology; Christian Anthropology based on Pope John Paul’s Theology of the Body, “the most suitable education about man” (Pope John Paul II); preternatural gifts, the Fall, soteriology (redemption).

Session 2: Freedom, conscience, Natural Law, “What We Can’t Not Know” (Dr. Budziszewski), secularist relativism (the “worst evil of our times”-Pope Benedict) brought on by Enlightenment thinkers such as Francis Bacon and his “man’s conquest of nature,” and recognizing such aberrations in the culture.

Session 3: Grace and justification—Catholic and Protestant perspectives, sanctification, Sacramental theology and the Mass, “the source and summit of our lives.” (Sacrosanctum Concilium).

Session 4: Maleness and femaleness, radical femininism, the Church’s teaching regarding homosexuality, egalitarianism, “givenness” (Dr. Joyce Little, The Catholic Church and the Culture War), the theological bases explaining why we have an all-male priesthood.

Fee:
The regular price is $60. However, there is a discount for early registration. Register by July 30, 2009 and receive a discount of $10.

Dates and Time:
This is a four-week course. Classes will begin Tuesday, September 8, 2009 and meet every Tuesday through September 29, 2009. The classes will begin 1:00 PM Eastern Time (noon Central) and are one hour long.

Enrollment Period:
Enrollment is currently open and will close on September 8, 2009 or until the class is filled. Maximum enrollment: 25.

Misc. Details:
Miss Ashour will be available via email in between classes to answer questions and take comments. Recordings of the classes are provided to students within 24 hours and available for 6 months.

Equipment Requirements:
Students are required to have high-speed internet. A headset with microphone is required. You can find them reasonably price at Amazon. To check your connection with the online classes visit: http://www.webex.com/lp/jointest/.

Next in the series: Moral Theology

Click here to learn about other homeschool online classes.