NOTICE: This is an older course recorded with Adobe Connect and/or Vimeo recordings. We are currently working to replace the recordings with new Zoom recordings (following the updated LIVE version of this course being offered in Spring 2025: click here to register!).  Please don't hesitate to email us at homeschoolconnections@gmail.com with any questions.

Zombie apocalypse? Left Behind? What's the truth? Learn the theology of the “Four Last Things” – death, judgment, hell, and heaven -- and get a strong theological basis for why "eschatology" is important for us to know about now.

How to get the most out of this course:

• First, read the course description and obtain all required materials listed below before the first class session.

• Have a notebook ready and available for class notes while you watch each recorded class session.

• Complete assigned readings before the class session for which they are intended.

• After watching the class recording, feel free to review the PowerPoint slides for that session as needed.

• Complete assignments, quizzes, and any extra work assigned according to the instructions provided.

• Once the course is completed to the parent's and instructor’s satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records.Total Classes:  12

Total class meetings: 12

Duration:  55 minutes per class

Prerequisite:  None

Suggested Grade Level:  11th - 12th grade (ALL interested high schoolers are welcome!)

Suggested Credit:  One full semester theology

Instructor: Mike Creavey, MA

Course Description: “Look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28). None of us can escape the reality of the passage of time and our eventual death. But this should not fill us with fear, for Jesus Christ has come to conquer death and to draw human beings into the eternal joy of the Divine Life! The Church’s consideration of the “Four Last Things” – death, judgment, hell, and heaven – is called “eschatology” (from the Greek eschata meaning “last”, “ultimate”, or “final”). These topics fascinate people up and down the centuries because they deal with questions of universal importance. As we explore these crucial matters, you may be surprised how much more there is here than meets the eye!

Course Outline:

Class 1 – Course “First Things” (Intro)
Class 2 – Time & Eternity
Class 3 – Sin & Death
Class 4 – Judgment
Class 5 – Hell
Class 6 – Purgatory
Class 7 – Heaven (pt. 1)
Class 8 – Heaven (pt. 2)
Class 9 – Special Topic: "I AM the Resurrection and the Life…”Class 10: Heaven (pt. 1)
Class 10 – Special Topic: Will All Be Saved? (aka Apocatastasis)
Class 11 – Special Topic: Depictions of the Last Things
Class 12 – Course “Last Things”

REQUIRED Course Materials:

1. The Holy Bible, preferably the Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition (RSV-2CE) or the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE). NOTE: Both can be accessed online for free through bible.com/“YouVersion” phone app or by visiting biblegateway.com and selecting the desired translation from the drop box menu. Students may use their own Bibles if they choose, but course material will always reference one of the above translations.

2. The Four Last Things: A Catechetical Guide to Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell by Fr. Wade Menezes, CPM, ISBN: 978-1682780428 (https://amzn.to/3JzZGC6)

3. Catechism of the Catholic Church: 2nd Edition (ISBN-13: 978-1601376497); also free online at http://ccc.usccb.org/flipbooks/catechism/index.html)

4. Various free online articles, PDFs, video, and audio links may be shared by the instructor throughout the course.

NOT required/expected, but recommended for those who wish to go deeper!

1. "The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell" - outstanding talk by Fr. Mike Schmitz, “Lighthouse Talks: Augustine Institute” (available online > https://www.lighthousecatholicmedia.org/store/title/the-four-last-things-death-judgment-heaven-hell); students would benefit greatly from listening to this talk before the first day of class.

2. Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, ISBN: 978-0813215167 (https://amzn.to/3GSATaY)

3. Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved?: With a Short Discourse on Hell by Hans Urs von Balthasar, ISBN: 978-1586179427 (https://amzn.to/34EqQt3)

4. On Hope by Josef Pieper, ISBN: 978-0898700671 (https://amzn.to/3sO2Ifm)

5. The End of Time: A Meditation on the Philosophy of History by Josef Pieper, ISBN: 978-0898707267 (https://amzn.to/3vau3eP)

Homework & Assessments:  Students should expect to read approximately 20 to 30 pages per week, including selections from course texts as well as web-based readings and occasional video and/or audio material. Assessments will be comprised of five bi/tri-weekly online quizzes (70% of grade) and one culminating essay (30% of grade).

Technical Help: If you have any technical trouble or questions about course content, please email us at homeschoolconnections@gmail.com.

©2019 Homeschool Connections and Mike Creavey. All rights reserved. This course is designed by Mike Creavey.

• This material is only to be used for its intended purpose by active subscribers of Homeschool Connections. Any other use without explicit permission is in violation of the seventh commandment (yes, the 7th commandment) and in violation of US and International copyright laws.

• You may print or download to local hard disk extracts for your personal homeschool and non-commercial use only. This is not to be used for homeschool co-ops without express written permission from Homeschool Connections.