YEAR THREE: JUDGES TO MACHABEES

Week 1

JUDGES…DEBBORA Lessons in heroism from the Old Testament. God’s government rejected. Consequences of sin.

Week 2

GEDEON…SAMSON Types of Christ. Heroes who yet had faults, liberating the People of God.

Week 3

RUTH… GENEALOGY OF

OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

Lessons of trust in Divine Providence, examples of virtue, nature of the Church.

Week 4

SAMUEL…IMPIETY OF

SONS OF HELI

Lessons about sharing in the guilt of others, the horror of sacrilege, the power of prayer.

Week 5

SAUL SELECTED KING Obedience is rewarded. Kingdom belongs to God. Dangers of pride unregulated.

Week 6

DAVID THE YOUNG

SHEPHERD

Wisdom & fidelity of God. Value of virtue, esp. obedience. The pain of a bad conscience.

Week 7

DAVID SLAYS GOLIATH Lessons on the punishment for pride, the power of humility and confidence in God.

Week 8

JONATHAN AND DAVID The dangers of envy and the value of true friendship.

Week 9

DAVID’S NOBLE CONDUCT

TOWARDS SAUL

The justice of God, the wisdom of God, love of our enemies, the fifth commandment, suicide.

Week 10

DAVID’S PIETY AND ZEAL Shows the connection between religion and good government. The value of religious music and processions, the significance of Jerusalem.

Week 11

PROPHECIES OF DAVID The omniscience of God. The promises of the Saviour, predictions of His suffering and glory and empire.

Week 12

DAVID’S FALL AND PENANCE The justice of God, the evil of one mortal sin, the power of passion. True penance vs tepidity. The fourth commandment violated and punishment given in justice.

Week 13

DEATH OF DAVID Summary of his virtues

Week 14

SOLOMON’S PRAYER

AND WISDOM

Lessons of God’s goodness. The power of lies and envy. The horror of mortal sin, the gift of wisdom given to real prayer.

Week 15

BUILDING & CONSECR-

ATING TEMPLE

God’s immensity must be glorified. Importance given to exterior worship, but in due subordination to interior.

Week 16

APOSTACY OF SOLOMON The first commandment demonstrated. Means of perseverance. Dangers of riches and prosperity.

Week 17

DIVISION OF KINGDOM Lessons on the dangers of arrogance and flattery, the evil of schism, the ways to participate in the guilt of others.

Week 18

PROPHETS…ELIAS The mercy and power of God. The faith and confidence we should have in Him. The power of prayer.

Week 19

SACRIFICE OF ELIAS The object or purpose of miracles. The evil of lack of good priests. Faith and fortitude.

Week 20

PUNISHMENT OF

ACHAB & JEZEBEL

The tenth commandment exemplified. The duty of true obedience. Guilty rulers influence others.

Week 21

ELIAS TAKEN TO

HEAVEN…ELISEUS

Goodness and power of God. The virtue of meekness. A holy desire for death. Correspondence with grace. Relics of saints.

Week 22

JONAS Qualities of God’s goodness, power, justice and mercy. True conversion vs relapse into sin. Fasting and repentance.

Week 23

ASSYRIAN CAPTIVITY

…TOBIAS

Patience and justice of God.. Israel as a figure of the impenitent sinner. Virtues of a holy exception, Tobias.

Week 24

TOBIAS DEPARTS Fatherhood and marriage. Lessons of death and defrauding of wages.

Week 25

TOBIAS RETURNS &

CURES HIS FATHER

The virtue of piety. The Guardian Angels. Real treasures. The power of prayer. The sufferings of the just.

Week 26

JUDA FALLS…

JOEL & MICHEAS

Evil passion are the root of unbelief. Divination and fortune-telling. Jeremias.

Week 27

KING OZIAS USURPS

& PUNISHED

After pride comes the fall. Temporal and spiritual authority. Lawful obedience.

Week 28

ISAIAS Omniscience, holiness and mercy of God. True conversion. The testimony of the prophets of Christ.

Week 29

KING EZECHIAS The justice of God, the power of prayer, help in danger.

Week 30

JUDITH God’s special care for his people. Resignation to His will. Virtues of Judith. Invocation to the saints.

Week 31

DANIEL SAVES SUSANNA The power, presence and justice of God. The beauty and power of chastity. The way to preserve chastity. Modesty.

Week 32

DANIEL IN LION’S DEN Twelfth promise of the Messias. The Church is Catholic. Prayer in common. Anger, a capital sin. Grace at meals.

Week 33

RETURN OF JEWS God’s mercy and faithfulness. The 13th-15th promise of the Messias.

Week 34

ESTHER Dangers of pride, the four cardinal virtues exemplified. Revealing sins.

Week 35

SIRACH Maxims of wisdom

Week 36

ELEAZAR Faith, bad examples, counselling sin, fear of God.

Week 37

MARTYRDOM OF

SEVEN MACHABEES

Fortitude, firm faith leads to heroism, abstinence, unlawful obedience.

Week 38

EXPLOITS OF JUDAS Justice of God, deathbed conversions, supernatural repentance, purgatory.

Week 39

FULLNESS OF TIME Review of the history of God’s people until the time of Christ

Week 40

REVISION….. EXAMS  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIBLE HISTORY COURSE CURRICULUM

FOUR YEAR COURSE OF STUDY

YEAR 7-10

YEAR 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE WHOLE BIBLE

TEXTS: LAUX "INTRODUCTION TO THE BIBLE"

YEAR 2 PENTATUECH AND JOSUE

TEXTS: SCHUSTER "BIBLE HISTORY"

YEAR 3 HISTORICAL AND PROHETICAL BOOKS

YEAR 4 THE NEW TESTAMENT

REFERENCE TEXTS;

bulletbullet HAYDOCK COMMENTARY OF THE BIBLE
bulletbullet NELSON COMMENTARY
bulletbullet CORNELIUS A LAPIDE
bulletbullet STAGING THE BIBLE F. CASEY
bulletbullet SUMMA THEOLOGICA OF ST THOMAS AQUINAS
bulletbullet CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLE VIA INTERNET.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

KNOWLEDGE:

bulletbullet FOUR SENSES OF SCRIPTURE
bulletbullet MEANING OF KEY FIGURES AND STORIES
bulletbullet SUPPLEMENT CATECHISM

ACTION:

bulletbullet GROWTH IN FAITH AND CHARITY
bulletbullet CONSTRUCTION OF A TIME-LINE
bulletbullet ABLE TO RE-TELL BIBLE STORIES.

 

RATIONALE

EXTRACTS FROM THE PAPAL ENCYCLICAL ACERBO NIMIS

ST PIUS X

…Christian teaching reveals God and His infinite perfection with far greater clarity than is possible by the human faculties alone. Nor is that all. This same Christian teaching also commands us to honour God by faith, which is of the mind, by hope, which is of the will, by love, which is of the heart; and thus the whole man is subjected to the supreme Maker and Ruler of all things.

The truly remarkable dignity of man as the son of the heavenly Father, in Whose image he is formed, and with Whom he is destined to live in eternal happiness, is also revealed only by the doctrine of Jesus Christ. From this very dignity, and from man's knowledge of it, Christ showed that men should love one another as brothers, and should live here as become children of light, "not of revelry and drunkenness, not in debauchery and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy."[7] He also bids us to place all our anxiety and care in the hands of God, for He will provide for us; He tells us to help the poor, to do good to those who hate us, and to prefer the eternal welfare of the soul to the temporal goods of this life.

Without wishing to touch on every detail, nevertheless is it not true that the proud man is urged and commanded by the teaching of Christ to strive for humility, the source of true glory? "Whoever, therefore, humbles himself. . . he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."[8] From that same teaching we learn prudence of the spirit, and thereby we avoid prudence of the flesh; we learn justice, by which we give to every man his due; fortitude, which prepares us to endure all things and with steadfast heart suffer all things for the sake of God and eternal happiness; and, last of all, temperance through which we cherish even poverty borne out of love for God, nay, we even glory in the cross itself, unmindful of its shame. In fine, Christian teaching not only bestows on the intellect the light by which it attains truth, but from it our will draws that ardour by which we are raised up to God and joined with Him in the practice of virtue.

5. We by no means wish to conclude that a perverse will and unbridled conduct may not be joined with a knowledge of religion. Would to God that facts did not too abundantly prove the contrary! But We do maintain that the will cannot be upright nor the conduct good when the mind is shrouded in the darkness of crass ignorance. A man who walks with open eyes may, indeed, turn aside from the right path, but a blind man is in much more imminent danger of wandering away. Furthermore, there is always some hope for a reform of perverse conduct so long as the light of faith is not entirely extinguished; but if lack of faith is added to depraved morality because of ignorance, the evil hardly admits of remedy, and the road to ruin lies open.

6. How many and how grave are the consequences of ignorance in matters of religion! And on the other hand, how necessary and how beneficial is religious instruction! It is indeed vain to expect a fulfilment of the duties of a Christian by one who does not even know them.

7. We must now consider upon whom rests the obligation to dissipate this most pernicious ignorance and to impart in its stead the knowledge that is wholly indispensable. There can be no doubt, Venerable Brethren, that this most important duty rests upon all who are pastors of souls. On them, by command of Christ, rest the obligations of knowing and of feeding the flocks committed to their care; and to feed implies, first of all, to teach. "I will give you pastors according to my own heart," God promised through Jeremias, "and they shall feed you with knowledge and doctrine."[9] Hence the Apostle Paul said: "Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the gospel,"[10] thereby indicating that the first duty of all those who are entrusted in any way with the government of the Church is to instruct the faithful in the things of God.

8. We do not think it necessary to set forth here the praises of such instruction or to point out how meritorious it is in God's sight. If, assuredly, the alms with which we relieve the needs of the poor are highly praised by the Lord, how much more precious in His eyes, then, will be the zeal and labour expended in teaching and admonishing, by which we provide not for the passing needs of the body but for the eternal profit of the soul! Nothing, surely, is more desirable, nothing more acceptable to Jesus Christ, the Saviour of souls, Who testifies of Himself through Isaias: "To bring good news to the poor he has sent me."[11]

9. Here then it is well to emphasise and insist that for a priest there is no duty more grave or obligation more binding than this. Who, indeed, will deny that knowledge should be joined to holiness of life in the priest? "For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge."[12] The Church demands this knowledge of those who are to be ordained to the priesthood. Why? Because the Christian people expect from them knowledge of the divine law, and it was for that end that they were sent by God. "And they shall seek the law at his mouth; because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts."[13] Thus the bishop speaking to the candidates for the priesthood in the ordination ceremony says: "Let your teaching be a spiritual remedy for God's people; may they be worthy fellow-workers of our order; and thus meditating day and night on His law, they may believe what they read, and teach what they shall believe."[14]

10. If what We have just said is applicable to all priests, does it not apply with much greater force to those who possess the title and the authority of parish priests, and who, by virtue of their rank and in a sense by virtue of a contract, hold the office of pastors of souls? These are, to a certain extent, the pastors and teachers appointed by Christ in order that the faithful might not be as "children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine devised in the wickedness of men," but that practising "the truth in love," they may, "grow up in all things in him who is the head, Christ."[15]

11. For this reason the Council of Trent, treating of the duties of pastors of souls, decreed that their first and most important work is the instruction of the faithful.[16] … The Council provided for the instruction of youth by adding that the pastors, either personally or through others, must explain the truths of religion at least on Sundays and feast days to the children of the parish, and inculcate obedience to God and to their parents. When the Sacraments are to be administered, it enjoins upon pastors the duty to explain their efficacy in plain and simple language.

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13. The task of the catechist is to take up one or other of the truths of faith or of Christian morality and then explain it in all its parts; and since amendment of life is the chief aim of his instruction, the catechist must needs make a comparison between what God commands us to do and what is our actual conduct. After this, he will use examples appropriately taken from the Holy Scriptures, Church history, and the lives of the saints--thus moving his hearers and clearly pointing out to them how they are to regulate their own conduct. He should, in conclusion, earnestly exhort all present to dread and avoid vice and to practice virtue.

14. We are indeed aware that the work of teaching the Catechism is unpopular with many because as a rule it is deemed of little account and for the reason that it does not lend itself easily to the winning of public praise. But this in Our opinion is a judgement based on vanity and devoid of truth. We do not disapprove of those pulpit orators who, out of genuine zeal for the glory of God, devote themselves to defence of the faith and to its spread, or who eulogise the saints of God.

But their labour presupposes labour of another kind, that of the catechist. And so if this be lacking, then the foundation is wanting; and they labour in vain who build the house. Too often it happens that ornate sermons which receive the applause of crowded congregations serve but to tickle the ears and fail utterly to touch the hearts of the hearers. Catechetical instruction, on the other hand, plain and simple though it be, is the word of which God Himself speaks through the lips of the prophet Isaias: "And as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return no more thither, but soak the earth and water it, and make it to spring and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater: so shall my word be, which shall go forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it."[17] We believe the same may be said of those priests who work hard to produce books which explain the truths of religion. They are surely to be commended for their zeal, but how many are there who read these works and take from them a fruit commensurate with the labour and intention of the writers? The teaching of the Catechism, on the other hand, when rightly done, never fails to profit those who listen to it

15. In order to enkindle the zeal of the ministers of God, We again insist on the need to reach the ever-increasing numbers of those who know nothing at all of religion, or who possess at most only such knowledge of God and Christian truths as befits idolaters. How many there are, alas, not only among the young, but among adults and those advanced in years, who know nothing of the chief mysteries of faith; who on hearing the name of Christ can only ask? "Who is he. . . that I may believe in him?"[18] In consequence of this ignorance, they do not consider it a crime to excite and nourish hatred against their neighbour, to enter into most unjust contracts, to do business in dishonest fashion, to hold the funds of others at an exorbitant interest rate, and to commit other iniquities no less reprehensible.

They are, moreover, ignorant of the law of Christ which not only condemns immoral actions but also forbids deliberate immoral thoughts and desires. Even when for some reason or other they avoid sensual pleasures, they nevertheless entertain evil thoughts without the least scruple, thereby multiplying their sins above the number of the hairs of the head. These persons are found, we deem it necessary to repeat, not merely among the poorer classes of the people or in sparsely settled districts, but also among those in the higher walks of life, even, indeed, among those puffed up with learning, who, relying upon a vain erudition, feel free to ridicule religion and to "deride whatever they do not know."[19]

16. Now, if we cannot expect to reap a harvest when no seed has been planted, how can we hope to have a people with sound morals if Christian doctrine has not been imparted to them in due time? It follows, too, that if faith languishes in our days, if among large numbers it has almost vanished, the reason is that the duty of catechetical teaching is either fulfilled very superficially or altogether neglected. It will not do to say, in excuse, that faith is a free gift of God bestowed upon each one at Baptism. True enough, when we are baptised in Christ, the habit of faith is given, but this most divine seed, if left entirely to itself, by its own power, so to speak, is not like the mustard seed which "grows up. . . and puts out great branches."[20] Man has the faculty of understanding at his birth, but he also has need of his mother's word to awaken it, as it were, and to make it active. So too, the Christian, born again of water and the Holy Spirit, has faith within him, but he requires the word of the teaching Church to nourish and develop it and to make it bear fruit. Thus wrote the Apostle: "Faith then depends on hearing, and hearing on the word of Christ";[21] and to show the necessity of instruction, he added, "How are they to hear, if no one preaches?"[22]

17. What We have said so far demonstrates the supreme importance of religious instruction. We ought, therefore, to do all that lies in our power to maintain the teaching of Christian doctrine with full vigour, and where such is neglected, to restore it; for in the words of Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, "There is nothing more effective than catechetical instruction to spread the glory of God and to secure the salvation of souls."[23]