When man turns his back on God, his utopian dreams turn to dystopian realities. This multidisciplinary literature course will examine the very modern horrors and irrationalities of a world without God.
How to get the most out of A World Without God with Kevin O'Brien:
- First, read the course details below.
- Prepare a notebook for note taking and homework.
- Once the course is completed to the parent's satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records. Homeschool Connections does not provide record keeping.
Special Notes: This course includes a writing component.
Total Classes: 12
Duration: 55 minutes per class
Prerequisite: None
Suggested grade level: 9th to 12th grade
Suggested credit: One full semester English or Literature
Instructor: Kevin O’Brien
Instructor Email: kevin@classeswithkevin.
Course description: St. John tells us, “You have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.” But what is the nature of this “antichrist” or this anti-Christian spirit, so prevalent in the world today? How does it fight against God? What sort of world does it create? What are its goals and assumptions? We will look at this spirit of defiance that puts man in place of God and identify its nature, its philosophy, its goals, where it most contradicts the Catholic Faith, and how ordinary people can combat it. We will do this by studying the art and literature that shows us what happens when men try to build this “world without God”, including reading all or parts of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, 1984 by George Orwell, selections from Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and more.
Course outline:
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Christ vs. Antichrist
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Man as God - Macbeth - Part I
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Man as God - Macbeth - Part II
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Heaven or Hell on Earth? - Utopias and Dystopias in History
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1984 - Part I
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1984 - Part II
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Hilaire Belloc on the Modern Heresy of the World without God
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Selections from A Brave New World
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Visions of the Apocalypse - Selections from Father Elijah by Michael O’Brien
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Fahrenheit 451
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Review
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Final Project Highlights
Course materials: Public domain material will be provided free as PDF files by the instructor. Students must purchase 1984 by George Orwell, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and Father Elijah by Michael O’Brien. Students may listen for free to Mr. O’Brien’s audiobook recording of Father Elijah, the audio files of which he will make available in Moodle.
Homework: Reading, quizzes, final project. For students who read at an average pace, plan on about three hours of homework per week, plus a final creative project in which the students will write a story, poem, play or make a video on the theme of dystopias or a “world without God”.
- Teacher: Kevin OBrien