Homeschool Connections offers several fantastic high school theology courses, which are currently open for registration. (Unfortunately, our Middle School Apologetics course is already full and closed for
registration. The good news is Middle School Apologetics is also available through
Unlimited Access.)
Below are details for all or our high school theology courses that are being offered as live, interactive courses for Fall 2013:
(click on course title to register)
Course dates: Thursdays, September 12 to October 31, 2013.
Total classes: 8
Starting time: 5:00 PM Eastern (4:00 Central)
Duration: 1 hour
Prerequisite: None
Suggested grade level: 9th to 12th grade
Suggested high school credit: 1/2 semester Theology
Fee: $90 if you register on or before Aug. 1, 2013. $110 after Aug. 1st for all 8 classes.
Instructor: Robert Gotcher, Ph.D.
Course description:
We participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass every week. We know it
is a great privilege and a great grace. We’ve read excellent
explanations in our religion texts books. But our understanding of an
infinite Mystery can never be complete. We can always go deeper. This
course uses images from Scripture to deeper our understanding of and
appreciation for what we are doing and experiencing when we “go to
Mass.”
Course outline:
Class One: Introduction: What is the Liturgy: a summary of the teaching
Class Two: Active participation
Class Three: The Mystery in which we participate
Class Four: The Mass, Temple, and Sacrifice
Class Five: Harvesting of all creation
Class Six: The Wedding Feast of the Lamb
Class Seven: Approaching the Mystery with fear and trembling
Class Eight: What Now?
Course materials: Bible, Missal, teacher’s text.
Homework: Reading, weekly quizzes, final paper graded by the instructor.
(click on course title to register)
Note: This class is limited to 15 students only.
Course dates: Tuesdays, September 10 to October 29, 2013.
Total classes: 8
Starting time: 10:30 AM Eastern (9:30 Central)
Duration: 1 hour
Prerequisite: None
Suggested grade level: 9th to 12th grade.
Suggested high school credit: ½ semester Theology.
Instructor: Gary Michuta
Fee: $100 if you register on or before August 1, 2013. $120 after Aug. 1st for all 8 classes.
Course description: With the election of our new pope, it is more important than ever to be able to explain the papacy to non-Catholics and clear up many of the misunderstanding and misinformation offered on the internet and main stream media. In this class, we will go through the Old Testament background concerning the government of God's People, the New Testament evidence for the primacy of Peter, the papacy, and the often misunderstood teaching of Papal Infallibility. We will also learn how to address and answer many of the most common objections raise against the Papacy from a biblical and a historical perspective.
Course outline:
Class 1: The Old Testament foundation for the Papacy
Class 2: Matthew 16:16-19 - The foundations of the Papacy
Class 3: Examining the New Testament Evidence for the Primacy of Peter and the Papacy
Class 4: The Papacy in History: Historical Evidence for the Primacy of Rome
Class 5: What is Papal Infallibility - Biblical Evidence
Class 6: What is Papal Infallibility - Historical Cases
Class 7: Answering Common Objections
Class 8: Answering Common Objections / Mock Dialogues
Course materials: Recommended (not required):
Upon this Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church (Modern Apologetics Library) [Ignatius Press, 1999].
Peter: Keeper of the Keys (DVD) [Ignatius Press].
(click on titles for ordering information) Other course materials provided free by the instructor.
Homework: The students will receive a worksheet with 10 to 20 review questions plus short reading assignments.
(click on course title to register)
Note: This course is limited to 15 students only.
Course dates: Wednesdays, September 4 to December 4, 2013. No class Oct. 16 and Nov. 27.
Total classes: 12
Starting time: 1:00 PM Eastern (Noon Central)
Duration: 1 hour
Prerequisite: Ability to read and understand the encyclical.
Suggested grade level: 11th to 12th grade.
Suggested high school credit: 1 full semester Theology
Fee: $175 if you register on or before Aug. 1, 2013. $195 if you register after Aug. 1st for all 12 classes.
Instructor: Christopher Zehnder, MA
Course description:
A Study of Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. Our Holy
Father, Pope Benedict XVI Emeritus, commemorated the 50th anniversary of
the convocation of the Second Vatican Council by designating October
11, 2012-November 24, 2013 as the "Year of Faith." In his Motu Proprio,
Porta Fidei, Benedict said the anniversary celebration "would provide a
good opportunity to help people understand that the texts bequeathed
by the Council Fathers, in the words of Blessed John Paul II, 'have
lost nothing of their value or brilliance. They need to be read
correctly, to be widely known and taken to heart as important and
normative texts of the Magisterium, within the Church's Tradition ...''
In this class will do precisely what the popes have asked: we will read
and discuss one of Vatican II's central documents: Lumen Gentium, the
Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. Among other matters, we will learn
what the council really says about:
-- what the Catholic Church is
-- who belongs to the Church
-- the teaching authority of the Church
-- the infallibility of the pope
-- the objects of the Church's teaching authority
-- the role of bishops and priests in the Church
-- the role of the laity
-- Mary's place in the Church
Course materials: Pope Paul VI's encyclical
Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution of the Church). Click on title to find free online.
Homework:
Students will read the text of Lumen Gentium over a period of 12 weeks.
The teacher will evaluate the students by essay tests given after Week
III, Week V, and Week VII. Thereafter, evaluation will be based on
student's responses to questions in class.
(click on course title to register)
Class dates: Tuesdays, Sept. 3 to Oct. 22, 2013
Total classes: 8
Starting time: 1:00 pm Eastern (Noon Central)
Duration: 1 hour
Fee: $90 on or before Aug. 1, 2013, $110 after Aug. 1st for entire 8-week course.
Instructor: Monica Ashour, MTS; M Hum
Prerequisite: None.
Suggested grade level: 10th to 12th grade
Suggested high school credit: ½ semester credit Theology
Course description: This overview of Pope John Paul’s Theology of the Body will give a “bird’s eye” perspective of the whole of TOB. Far from relegating TOB to the area of sex and sexuality, TOB provides meaningful tools to see one’s life in the context of Jesus’ love for His Church and the life and love of the Blessed Trinity. A special emphasis will be made regarding the vocational call to the priesthood, religious life, and married life, and how both “celibacy for the Kingdom” (JPII’s words) and marriage mirror and inform each other. Caveat: Coursework subject to change based on the discretion of the online instructor’s assessment.
Course outline:
Class 1: Overview of Theology of the Body.
Class 2: Our bodies as a teacher: The “language of the body”
Class 3: Our bodies as a sacrament (JPII)
Class 4: Our bodies: fallenness due to detachment (all sins are due to not “re-reading the truth of the language of the body)
Class 5: Our bodies can experience redemption: Masculinity and Femininity
Class 6: Our bodies at the end of time: spiritualized body, perfect inter-subjectivity, the essence of heaven
Class 7: Our bodies and their “spousal meaning” tell us to discern our call: priesthood, consecrated life, marriage
Class 8: Recapitulation of everything
Course materials: For the first day’s class: please read the required reading from the Bible.
1. Genesis, Chapters 1 to 3
2. The
Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraphs 355-682 (Read 47 paragraphs a week)
3. The Documents of Vatican II;
Gaudium et Spes, paragraphs 47-62 (2 paragraphs a week)
4. “
Letter to Families” (Pope John Paul) (This gives a good TOB outlook in abbreviated form)
5. The short essay “
The Weight of Glory” in the longer collection with the same name: The Weight of Glory and short essay “
Man or Rabbit”, both by CS Lewis.
Additional reading lists provided for students who desire to go deeper into the subject.
Homework: Weekly quizzes, a major project, & final exam: Answer keys provided for parental or self grading. A minimum of 30 minutes a day suggested for study, reading, quizzes, project, and final Note that the pressure is not great, as rarely is there discussion over the reading assignments. Rather, Miss Ashour gives the reading list to help the students find good resources and to learn more on their own since we don’t have much time in class.
(click on course title to register)
Class dates: Tuesdays, Oct. 29 to Dec. 17, 2013
Total classes: 8
Starting time: 1:00 pm Eastern (Noon Central)
Duration: 1 hour
Fee: $90 on or before Aug. 1, 2013. $110 after Aug. 1st for entire 8-week course.
Instructor: Monica Ashour, MTS; M Hum
Prerequisite: None
Suggested grade level: 10th to 12th grade
Suggested high school credit: ½ semester credit Theology
Course description: The students in this course will study the nature of the Church, that is, how She is in the “nature of a sacrament” (Lumen Gentium), along with all of her other aspects from the perspective of Pope John Paul’s Theology of the Body. While the traditional understanding of the Church will be presented, students will see that such teaching, undergirded by Blessed John Paul’s Theology of the Body, becomes one mosaic. For instance, students will see what Pope John Paul means when he says marriage is the “primordial sacrament” and what it means that “redemptive love becomes, in a sense, ‘spousal.’” Students of this course are mystified by the shift in their imagination. They will see, then, why Vatican II’s favorite description of the Church is Body-Bride.
Course outline:
Class 1: Course expectations and overview
Class 2: The source of Revelation
Class 3: The Marks of the Church
Class 4: Recapitulate ecclesiology
Class 5: The Sacraments
Class 6: The role of the Holy Spirit
Class 7: The Mass and liturgy
Class 8: Recapitulation of everything
Course materials:
1. The Bible—The Institution of the Last Supper in all 3 synoptic Gospels and John’s Washing of the Feet; all of the book of Ephesians; Hebrews 5-13
2. The Catechism of the Catholic Church
3. The Documents of Vatican II, especially Sacrosanctum Concilium and Lumen Gentium
4. Ecclesia de Eucharistia (Pope John Paul’s encyclical on the Eucharist and Its relationship to the Church—Read 6 paragraphs a week)
5. The short essay “The Weight of Glory” in the longer collection with the same name: The Weight of Glory and short essay “Man or Rabbit”, both by CS Lewis.
6. Fr. Godfrey Diekmann’s “Two Approaches to Understanding the Sacraments” (provided FREE by instructor).
Homework: Weekly quizzes, a major project, & final exam: Answer keys provided for parental or self grading. A minimum of 30 minutes a day suggested for study, reading, quizzes, project, and final Note that the pressure is not great, as rarely is there discussion over the reading assignments. Rather, Miss Ashour gives the reading list to help the students find good resources and to learn more on their own since we don’t have much time in class.
Homeschool Connections also offers a large variety of recorded, independent-learning courses in all subjects including Theology. Click here to learn more about the recorded courses: Unlimited Access!
Currently Available through Unlimited Access:
Church History; Trinitarian
Christian Anthropology—Who Am I?
Moral Theology—How Shall I Live?
Ecclesiology & Sacramental Theology—How Shall I Glorify God?
Theology of the Body: “The Best Method of Educating Man”
Catholic Spiritual Writers
Introduction to the Bible; Old Testament
Introduction to the Bible; New Testament
The Trinity
The Mass Explained
Practical Catholic Apologetics for Adults
Middle School Apologetics for Catholics
Apologetics Boot Camp
Defending the Bible in Modern Times
Advanced Catholic Apologetics
What About Mary? Marian Apologetics
Natural Philosophy; Philosophy of God
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