(Fall 2023)The Big Picture: Connecting the Dots in the Bible, the Church and Salvation History with Kevin O'Brien

 

How to get the most out of Connecting the Dots in the Bible:

  • Watch each Recorded class session.
  • Complete all quizzes and assignments. Parents can grade any essay questions, or they may purchase Instructor Access for Kevin O'Brien to grade the essay questions.
  • The reading for each week can be found in that week's module.
  • 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.

Total Classes: 13

Prerequisite: None

Suggested Grade Level: 9th to 12th grade

Suggested High School Credit: 1 full semester Literature, Theology, or History

Instructor: Kevin O’Brien

Course Description: Sometimes our faith seems like a series of disconnected rules or bits and pieces of things we’re told that doesn’t seem to fit together or make a lot of sense. But every part of what we believe as Catholics is not only of one piece, a “seamless garment” theologically, but the vast story of man from the Bible through the years of the Early Church, the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and Modern Times is a vast story written by a vast Storyteller. This class will look at the Big Picture, especially the overall scope of Scripture, as well as at eternal themes that have run through literature and art through the ages. The goal is to make sense of it all and to see God’s great plan which includes both suffering and joy.

Course Outline (week by week):

1. Introduction

2. From Alpha to Omega - What is History and Where is It Going? - Natural History, Human History, Salvation History

3. The Story of the Chosen People in the Old Testament - Revelation and Resistance

4. The Fullness of Revelation - the New Testament

5. Christ Answers the Mystery - Revelation and Resistance Continues

6. The Early Church - Martyrs and Church Fathers

7. The Heresies

8. Islam

9. Christendom and Its Culture

10. The Reformation

11. The Modern Attack

12. The Future?

13. Review and Conclusion

Course Materials:

  • A Catholic Bible
  • The Catechism of the Catholic Church (www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1574551094/catholictreas-20)
  • The Everlasting Man by GK Chesterton (www.chesterton.org/shop/everlasting-man)
  • The Great Heresies by Hilaire Belloc (www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0991560671/catholictreas-20)
  • Selections from The Ecumenic Age by Eric Voegelin and other materials provided free as PDF’s by the instructor

Homework: Lots of in-depth reading and short papers (graded by the instructor). Expect to spend 3 to 4 hours outside of the classroom on homework per week.