Part I: God's Story, Our Story

What is the meaning of life, and where can we find lasting happiness? Why should we search for truth, and how can we recognize it? We explore popular worldviews, the human person as body and spirit, the spiritual world, and the problems of evil and death. Our longing for “more” raises questions that material success alone cannot answer—and leads us to the ultimate question: is there a God “out there” who knows and cares for us? [No handout]

A summary of God’s plan of salvation for mankind: God created us out of love. But our sin separates us from him, and we cannot repair this break on our own. Jesus the Messiah has come to reconcile us with God and give us eternal life. He established the Catholic Church to unite us with himself, the way, the truth, and the life. God calls us to repent, to choose to follow Jesus, and to join ourselves to his Body, the Church.

This lesson offers an overview of salvation history and a summary of the entire course. God created the world and made a covenant with man, the crown of creation. But, tempted by the devil, man sinned and lost God’s life. God gradually restored man to himself through his covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus, who redeemed the human race in his Paschal Mystery. Jesus appointed his apostles to continue his work through the Church, until he returns at the end of history.

Can we know that God exists without first appealing to faith? This first regular lesson explores how human reason can arrive at certainty about God’s existence by considering the physical world and the human person. We then examine what reason can tell us about God: he is self-existent, infinite, one, eternal, spiritual, both immanent and transcendent, intelligent, good, all-knowing, and all-powerful. These discoveries lay the foundation for understanding who God is and recognizing his revelation.

We can know God through human reason, but only in a limited way. Yet if God exists and is personal, he may well want to speak to us. But how? Through nature, private revelation, prayer, organized religion? Authentic divine revelation must be consistent with what we can know about God through reason (A03). God has revealed himself progressively, in words and deeds, to the people of Israel, leading up to the fullness of his revelation in Jesus the Messiah. Divine revelation is God’s “map of life” for us.

If God speaks to us through revelation, what does he tell us about himself? He reveals himself as Creator of the world and a loving Father, making known his name: “I AM.” He is holy, merciful, loving, and true, and his providence sustains us in every need. Through a biblical account of God’s providence and the mystery of evil, we consider how to trust our heavenly Father even amid suffering and respond to his call to become his children.

How shall we speak to our Father? Prayer is our response to God’s revelation. God has spoken to us; he also invites us to speak to him from our hearts. Every person is called to a loving relationship with God through prayer. This lesson traces prayer through salvation history and explores Jesus’ teaching on prayer. It also examines the forms, sources, and expressions of prayer, along with obstacles to a fruitful prayer life.

This lesson begins the study of salvation history. God created the world “out of nothing” in wisdom and love, to show forth his glory and share his truth, goodness and beauty with his creation. He created an invisible (angelic) world and a visible (earthly) world. Man is the crown of creation. The Sabbath is the sign of the covenant between God and man. Creation is a vast temple, Eden its sanctuary, and Adam humanity’s high priest.

God created man in his own image and likeness, as the crown of creation. God created human beings as a unity of body and soul, male and female, and calls them to love. Man and woman are to become “one flesh” and be fruitful and multiply. By nature, man is God’s creature and servant; by grace, man is God’s beloved son, called to partake in God’s own life of love. Adam and Eve were created in a state of original holiness and justice, in perfect harmony with creation and free from suffering and death.

Tempted by the devil and wanting to be “like God, knowing good and evil,” Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned. As a consequence, their relationship with God was broken. They lost the grace of original holiness and justice and became afraid of God. The harmony between them and all of creation was destroyed. Suffering and death entered human life, and they were cast out of paradise. Through their sin, Adam and Eve wounded human nature and passed it on to their descendants in a fallen state, deprived of original holiness and justice, weakened, subject to ignorance, and inclined to sin.

God did not abandon man after the fall but promised him a future redemption (Gen 3:15). But humanity became so corrupt that God decided to destroy the world by means of a flood, preserving only Noah and his family in the ark. After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah, promising never again to wipe out the human race with a flood. Jewish tradition identifies seven basic commandments given to Noah and his descendants. The flood brought a “decreation,” followed by a new beginning that prefigured the new creation of baptism.

God made a covenant with Abraham after calling him to leave his country and settle in the land of Canaan. God promised to make of Abraham a great nation, to make his name great, and to bless all the families of the earth through him. These three promises were later fulfilled through the Mosaic, Davidic and New covenants. Abraham’s obedience and willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac stood in contrast to Adam’s disobedience and prefigured Jesus’ sacrifice of the New Covenant.

The second half of the book of Genesis focuses on the life of the patriarch Jacob. Initially a cunning trickster, Jacob undergoes a profound transformation during his 20-year exile in Haran. In that time, Jacob’s sons are born; they will become the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. When they turn against their brother Joseph and he ends up in Egypt, God raises him up and makes him a source of blessing and salvation not only to his family but also to all neighboring countries. This dramatic story of Joseph and his brothers is a type of the future relationship between Jesus and his Jewish brothers.

Through Moses, God fulfilled his first promise to Abraham: to make his descendants a great nation. The children of Israel became enslaved in Egypt. God raised up Moses to deliver them, inflicting ten plagues upon the Egyptians, which culminated in the Passover. God led the Israelites across the Red Sea and gave them the Torah at Mount Sinai, where he adopted them as his own people. God established the Tabernacle as the sacred place where he would meet his people. By worshiping the golden calf, the Israelites broke the covenant, but God renewed it thanks to Moses’ mediation.

Leviticus sets out laws concerning sacrifices, priestly consecration, moral conduct, purity, and holiness. In the book of Numbers, the Israelites set out towards Canaan; but because of their unbelief they were condemned to wander in the desert for 40 years. Deuteronomy—the “second law”—renews and expounds Israel’s covenant obligations, including legal concessions, ritual requirements, blessings, and curses. God promised to raise up another prophet like Moses, and around the year 1400 BC. He finally led his people to the border of the Promised Land.

In the book of Joshua, the Israelites cross the Jordan and conquer the land of Canaan. Under the leadership of Joshua, they conquer Jericho, then wage successful campaigns in the center, south, and north of Canaan. They conquer much – but not all – of the promised land, dividing it among the twelve tribes. In contrast, the period of the Judges is a time of decline and chaos: the Israelites enter a cycle of sin, oppression, repentance, salvation, and return to sin. God raises up judges who deliver the people from their oppressors; but while the first judges are successful, later judges increasingly fail in their role as leaders, so that “every man did what was right in his own eyes.”

Samuel was the last judge: he anointed Saul to become the first king of Israel. But God rejected him because of his disobedience, and he was killed in battle. God raised David to become the next king of Israel. Through David, God fulfilled his second promise to Abraham—to make his name great. David conquered Jerusalem and brought the Ark of the Covenant into the city. God promised David an enduring dynasty and a kingdom that would extend over other nations, pointing ultimately to the everlasting reign of the Messiah, the Son of David.

David’s son Solomon built the Jerusalem Temple, a house of prayer for all nations. But Solomon later fell into sin and idolatry and the kingdom began to decline. After King Solomon’s death, the kingdom was divided into Judah (south) and Israel (north). The prophets were God’s voice, warning his people of judgment but also offering messianic hope and the promise of a “new Son of David.” All kings of Israel were evil, and the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom in 722 BC. Most kings of Judah were also sinful, and the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and deported the population in 586 BC.

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and Daniel’s visions foretell four great kingdoms—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome—followed by God’s kingdom, which will rule over the whole earth. The Medo-Persians conquered Babylon in 539 BC. Daniel has a vision of the heavenly “Son of Man” who will rule over all nations. One calculation of the “seventy weeks” in chapter 9 points to the Messiah’s coming around AD 32, when he would be “cut off.” Daniel sees a vision of the final judgment and end of days.

In the Persian period, the Jews returned to Judah and rebuilt the temple. Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of the city, and the people renewed the covenant with God, but the Davidic kingdom was not restored. Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire in a campaign lasting from 334 to 330 BC. After his death, Judea was controlled first by the Ptolemies, then by the Seleucids. Antiochus Epiphanes oppressed the Jews, leading to the Maccabean revolt and the Hasmonean dynasty. We also explore the development of Second Temple Judaism, including the Pharisees and Sadducees, before turning to Rome’s conquest of Judea and Herod’s rise to kingship.

In the Second Temple period there were high messianic expectations among the Jews. They hoped that God would restore the Davidic kingdom through the coming Messiah. The prophets foretold that the Messiah would be of the tribe of Judah, a prophet like Moses, the Son of David and Son of God, born of a virgin in Bethlehem. He would perform miracles, be a light to the Gentiles, and would be rejected by his people, “pierced” and sacrificed for our sins. This Messiah would come before the destruction of the temple.

Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah of Israel foretold by the prophets. The Son of God became man to save us, reveal God’s love, be our model of holiness, and make us partakers of the divine nature. This lesson follows his early life from the Annunciation to Mary and his miraculous birth in Bethlehem through his childhood and hidden life in Nazareth. His baptism and temptation in the wilderness prepare the way for his public ministry and reveal his faithful obedience to the Father.

Drawing on all four Gospels, this lesson follows Jesus’ public ministry from his proclamation of the Kingdom of God to his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We explore his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, his parables of the Kingdom, and the healings and signs that reveal God’s saving power at work. Through his words and deeds, Jesus calls people to repentance, faith, and discipleship, revealing the character of the Kingdom and inviting them to enter it.

At the heart of salvation history is Jesus’ Paschal Mystery: his suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension. At the Last Supper, Jesus established a New Covenant with Israel and instituted the Eucharist. Betrayed by Judas and abandoned by most of his disciples, he was condemned to death by crucifixion. His death is the paschal sacrifice of the New Covenant. On the third day he was raised from the dead. After appearing to his disciples for 40 days, he ascended to heaven and returned to God the Father.

This lesson examines Jesus’ claims and identity as presented in the New Testament. He is true man and the Messiah of Israel; the new Adam, who reverses the first Adam’s disobedience; the new Son of Abraham and the sacrificial Lamb provided by God; the new Moses, who leads his people on a new Exodus; and the new Son of David, the promised King. He is also the “Son of Man” foretold by Daniel, the Son of God, Lord, and God.

Who did Jesus claim to be, and are his claims credible? This lesson examines the evidence for his historical existence, the reliability of the New Testament documents, and his claims to divinity. Can he reasonably be regarded as merely a good and wise teacher—or do his words demand a more decisive response? We consider the familiar alternatives—liar, lunatic, or Lord—and examine the evidence for his resurrection. Are the Gospel accounts myth, wishful thinking, or trustworthy testimony to real events?

Jesus claimed to be divine, yet distinct from God the Father – while affirming Jewish belief in the one God of Israel. How is this possible? Hints of personal distinction within the one God in the Old Testament and Jewish sources. The “Word of God” and “angel of the Lord.” The angel Metatron, a “Son of God”? The divinity of the Messiah in the OT. God’s Spirit. The Trinity in the NT: one God, three Persons. The second Person: God’s knowledge, idea, word, Son. The third Person: God’s spirit, God’s love. Introduction to the work of the Trinity, which will be explored further throughout the rest of the course.

The mystery of divine love breaks into human history through Christ’s Incarnation and Redemption. In the beginning, God made a covenant with man; but man broke this covenant when he sinned. The Messiah’s redemptive death reconciles us with God and restores our covenantal relationship with him. The atonement brings us “at one” with God, restoring communion with him. Four models of the atonement help us understand the nature of salvation: the marketplace, the battlefield, the courtroom, and the temple. These models illustrate how the Messiah’s salvation redeems us, delivers us, justifies us, and purifies us.

We now encounter the third Person of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit—Helper, Consoler, Lord, and Giver of Life. From creation to the coming of the Messiah, his hidden work unfolds in Scripture and history. We explore his unique relationship with Mary, his fullness in Jesus, and his promised outpouring at Pentecost. The Spirit is God’s sanctifying love poured into our hearts, still active in the Church today—and available to be received by each of us.

This lesson is an introduction to the Catholic Church. It provides a bridge between understanding the inner life of the Holy Trinity and sharing in this divine life as members of the Messiah’s body – the Church – the subject of the second half of the course. Jesus established his Church—one, holy, catholic, and apostolic—to share his divine life with us. The Church participates in his mission as prophet, priest, and king. Through Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium, she faithfully transmits and teaches the faith. God shares his life with us through the Church’s seven sacraments. In the Church we are united with the saints in heaven and on earth, and most especially with Mary, our Jewish mother.

Jesus the Messiah will come again in glory at the end of history, ushering in the fullness of God’s kingdom. Before his coming, Scripture foretells a time of global conflict, widespread proclamation of the Gospel, intensified persecution of Christians, and a great falling away within the Church. False prophets will arise, deceiving many and paving the way for the Antichrist. Jesus’ second coming remains suspended until his recognition by all of Israel. At his coming, the dead will be raised, and the final judgment will take place—followed by the creation of a new heaven and new earth, where the redeemed will once again have access to the tree of life in paradise.