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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Resource Materials
- Student Workbook
  - Chapter 1
  - Chapter 2
  - Chapter 3
  - Chapter 4
  - Chapter 5
  - Chapter 6
  - Chapter 7
  - Chapter 8
  - Chapter 9
- Tests
- Quizzes
- Vocabulary
- Prayers

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Table of Contents

Abbreviations Used for the Books of the Bible

General Abbreviations

Catholic Prayers and Devotions

Chapter 1:
Jesus Christ and the Founding of the Church

Chapter Planning Guide

Chapter Objectives

Keys to this Chapter

Part I: The Jews

Part II: The Life of Jesus Christ

Map: Palestine in the Time of Christ

Sidebar: The Four Gospels

Part III: Pentecost, the Birth of the Church

Map: The Early Spread of Christianity

Part IV: The Church

The Church Is One

The Church Is Holy

The Church Is Catholic

The Church Is Apostolic

Part IV: The Apostles

The Call of the Twelve

The Apostolic Tradition and the Office of Bishop

The Conversion of St. Paul

An Interlude — the Conversion of Cornelius and the Commencement of the Mission to the Gentiles

St. Paul, “Apostle of the Gentiles”

Sidebar and Maps: The Travels of St. Paul

The Council of Jerusalem (AD 49–50)

Missionary Activities of the Apostles

Part VI: Beliefs and Practices: The Spiritual Life of the Early Christians

Agape and the Eucharist

Sidebar: The Catacombs

Maps: The Early Growth of Christianity

Sidebar: Christian Symbols

Sexual Ethics: Abortion and Contraception

Part VII: Important Writings of the Early Christian Period

St. Hippolytus and The Apostolic Tradition

Part VIII: Martyrdom as the Greatest Testimony to Christianity

Long‑Term Assignment

Study Questions

Practical Exercises

From the Catechism

Chapter 2:
Persecution of “The Way” and Heresies

Chapter Planning Guide

Chapter Objectives

Keys to this Chapter

Part I: The First Roman Persecutions

The First Persecution Under Emperor Nero (AD 64)

Persecution Under Emperor Domitian, “Lord and God”

Part II: “The Five Good Emperors” (AD 96–180)

Trajan’s Rescript (AD 112)

St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch

Hadrian’s Rescript (AD 123 / 124)

St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna

Sidebar: The Coliseum

Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the Philosopher-King

St. Justin Martyr

Part III: Later Persecutions and the Edict of Milan

St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons

The Edict of Decius (AD 250)

Origen: Theologian and Biblical Exegete

Pope St. Sixtus II and Deacon St. Lawrence

Persecutions Under Diocletian

The Church Triumphs

The Edict of Milan (AD 313)

Part IV: Early Heresies

Marcionism (144–400s)

Manichæism (250s–1000s)

Montanism (156–200s)

Docetism (30s–100s)

Part V: The Ecumenical Councils

Part VI: The Church Fathers

St. Ambrose of Milan

Translations of the Bible

St. John Chrysostom, the Golden‑mouthed

Part VII: Heresies of the Fourth and Fifth Centuries

Christological Heresies

Arianism (Fourth Century)

The Council of Nicaea

The Nicene‑Constantinopolitan Creed

St. Hilary of Poitiers: “The Athanasius of the West”

The Three Cappadocians

St. Basil the Great

St. Gregory of Nazianzus, “The Theologian”

St. Gregory of Nyssa

Apollinarianism (ca. 360–381)

Nestorianism (ca. 351–ca. 451)

Monophysitism (400s–600s)

Pope St. Leo the Great

Monothelitism (600s)

Dogmatic and Sacramental Heresies

Donatism (311–411)

Pelagianism (late 300s–431)

St. Augustine of Hippo

Part VIII: Christianity: Official Religion of the Roman Empire

Constantine’s Ascendancy

Julian the Apostate

Theodosius I the Great (379–395)

Long‑Term Assignment

Study Questions

Practical Exercises

From the Catechism

Chapter 3:
Light in the Dark Ages

Chapter Planning Guide

Chapter Objectives

Keys to this Chapter

Part I: The Collapse of the Roman Empire

The Fall of Rome (476)

The Germanic Tribes

Attila the Hun Meets Pope St. Leo the Great (452)

Historical Interpretation of the Germanic Invasions

Map: The Barbarian Invasions, Fourth and Fifth Centuries

Part II: The Rise of Monasticism

The First Appearance of Monasticism

Monasticism and the Emergence of a New Christian Culture

St. Benedict: The “Patriarch of Western Monasticism”

Pope St. Gregory the Great

Map: The Extent of Islam by AD 661

Part III: The Rise of Islam

Muhammad (ca. 570–632) and the Koran

The Spread of Islam

The Church’s Work of Conversion

Part IV: Conversion of France, the “Church’s Eldest Daughter”

Conversion of the Franks

Part VI: The Conversion of the Celts

St. Patrick: the “Apostle of Ireland”

Irish Monks: Protectors and Promoters of Western Civilization

St. Columba: The “Apostle of Scotland”

St. Columbanus and the Irish on the Continent

Part VII: The Conversion of England

St. Augustine of Canterbury: The “Apostle of England”

The Mission in England Continues

St. Bede: The “Father of English History”

Part VIII: The Conversion of Germany and the Low Countries

St. Boniface: The “Apostle of Germany”

Part IX: The Conversion of the Slavs

Sts. Cyril and Methodius: The “Apostles of the Slavs”

St. Vladimir: The “Apostle of the Russians and Ukrainians”

Part X: Byzantium

Byzantium: The Long View

Byzantine Christianity

Military Campaigns

Codex Justinianus (529)

Hagia Sophia (538)

Monophysitism and Justinian I

Part XI: The Iconoclastic Controversy (ca. 725–843)

First Iconoclasm

Emperor Leo III, the Isaurian (717–741)

St. John of Damascus

Iconophile Recovery: The Seventh Ecumenical Council: The Second Council of Nicaea (787)

Second Iconoclasm (815–843)

The Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy (843)

Part XII: The Rise of the Carolingians and an Independent Papacy

The Origin of the Carolingian Line

Establishment of the Papal States

Charlemagne (reigned 769–814)

Charlemagne’s Relationship to the Papacy

Charlemagne Crowned Emperor (800)

The Carolingian Renaissance

Map: The Empire of Charlemagne, 768–814

Map: The Great Schism, 1054

Part XIII: The Great Schism

The Emergence of Differences

Sidebar: Liturgical Practices of the Eastern Churches

The Filioque Controversy

The Photian Schism (857–867)

The Great Schism (1054)

Patriarch Michael Cerularius

The Actual Schism

Sidebar: Contemporary Efforts to Heal the Schism

Long‑Term Assignment

Study Questions

Practical Exercises

From the Catechism

Chapter 4:
Collapse, Corruption, and Reform in Europe and the Church

Chapter Planning Guide

Chapter Objectives

Keys to this Chapter

Part I: The Carolingian World Collapses

The Rise of Feudalism

Map: Invasions of Europe, Seventh to Tenth Centuries

Feudalism and the Church

The Viking Invasions

Part II: Cluny and Monastic Reform

Cluniac Spirituality

Sidebar: Life as a Monk at Cluny

The Influence of the Cluniac Monks

Part III: The New Temporal Orders

The Ottonian Empire (Holy Roman Empire)

Otto I, the Great (936–973)

Otto III and Pope Sylvester II

Saintly Rulers: Emperor St. Henry II and Queen St. Cunegond

Capetian France

Normandy: The Vikings, William the Conqueror, and Lanfranc

Lanfranc, the Norman Archbishop of Canterbury

Part IV: The Lay Investiture Controversies

Pope St. Gregory VII

The Dictatus Papæ

“To Go to Canossa”: The Humiliation of Emperor Henry IV

Concordat of Worms

Investiture Conflict and the English Church (1154–1189)

Constitutions of Clarendon

Frederick I, Barbarossa (1152–1190)

Innocent III (ca. 1160–1216) and Frederick II (1194–1250)

Part V: The Cistercians and Carthusians

The Cistercians

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

The Carthusians

Part VI: The Crusades

The Fall of the Holy Land

The First Crusade (1095–1099)

Map: The First Crusade, 1095–1099

Successive Crusades

Byzantium’s Response

Outcome of the Crusades

Part VII: The Military Orders: The Knights Templar, the Hospitalers, and the Teutonic Knights

The Knights Templar

Sidebar: Warrior Monks

The Knights Hospitalers

The Teutonic Knights

Legacy of the Military Orders

Part VIII: The Inquisition

The Origins of the Inquisition

The Inquisitors

Process for Inquisition

The Final Verdict in the Inquisition

Sidebar: Simon de Montfort and the Battle of Muret

The Inquisition in Spain

Long‑Term Assignment

Study Questions

Practical Exercises

From the Catechism

Chapter 5:
The Renaissance

Chapter Planning Guide

Chapter Objectives

Keys to this Chapter

Part I: The Universities

Origin of Universities

Organization of the University

Academic Coursework

The Effects of the University

Part II: Scholasticism

Methods and Mystery

St. Thomas Aquinas

Early Challenges to Thomistic Thought

Part III: The Mendicant Orders

Sidebar: The Dumb Ox

St. Francis of Assisi

The Legacy of the Mendicant Friars

Part IV: The Flowering of Culture

Medieval Architecture

Part V: The Road to Avignon

Pope St. Celestine V

Boniface VIII and Philip IV

The Avignon Papacy

Part VI: The Hundred Years War (1337–1453)

The English in France

The Hundred Years War

St. Joan of Arc

Sidebar: St. Joan of Arc’s Impossible Mission

Part VII: Return to Rome and Schism

St. Catherine of Siena

The Western Schism

Resolution of the Schism: Council of Constance

Part VIII: Decline of Scholastic Philosophy and Theology and the Rise of Heresy

William of Ockham

Part IX: The Fall of Constantinople and the Rise of the Italian Free Cities

The Council of Basel‑Ferrara‑Florence (1431–1445) and the End of the Byzantine Empire

Part X: The Birth of Humanism and the Flourishing of Arts and Letters

Dante Alighieri (1265–1321)

Humanism in Painting and Sculpture

Sidebar: Michelangelo and the Popes

Humanism in the North

St. Thomas More (1478–1535)

Erasmus of Rotterdam (ca. 1466–1536)

Part XI: Popes and Politics

The Renaissance Popes

Nicholas V (1447–1455)

Callistus III (1455–58)

Pius II (1458–64)

Sixtus IV (1471–84)

Innocent VIII, Alexander VI, and Julius II

Long‑Term Assignment

Study Questions

Practical Exercises

From the Catechism

Chapter 6:
The Reformation: Protestant and Catholic

Chapter Planning Guide

Chapter Objectives

Keys to this Chapter

Part I: The Protestant Revolt

Martin Luther’s Early Life

In the Monastery

The Ninety‑five Theses

From Debate to Dissension

Luther Develops His Theology

Sidebar: The Epistle of St. James

Part II: The Peasant Rebellion and the Splintering of Protestantism

The German Princes

The Peasant Rebellion

The Augsburg Confession

The Death of Luther

The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Theocracy in Geneva

Part III: The English Reformation

Cardinal Wolsey

The Act of Supremacy

Bishop Sts. John Fisher and Thomas More

Sidebar: St. John Houghton and the Blessed Martyrs of the Carthusian Order

Confiscation of Church Properties

Aftermath of Henry VIII: England Becomes Protestant

Part IV: The Catholic Revival

Adrian VI and Clement VII

Paul III and Calling of the Council of Trent

Map: Popular Religions in 1560

Church’s Teaching

The Council of Trent (1545–47): Sessions 1–10

The Council of Trent (1551–1553): Sessions 11–16 under Julius III

The Council of Trent (1562–1563): Sessions 17–25 under Pius IV

Application of the Tridentine Reform

The Turkish Threat and the Battle of Lepanto

St. Charles Borromeo

Sidebar: St. Peter Canisius

Reforming the Orders: Sts. Philip Neri and Teresa of Avila

St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Society of Jesus

Part V: Spain and the Empire of Philip II

The Crusade of Catholic Spain

The Revolt of the Low Countries

The Council of Troubles and William of Orange

Division of the Low Countries

Map: The Revolt of the Low Countries Against Spain, 1559–1592

Part VI: The Huguenot Wars

Three Factions: Guise, Huguenot, and Politique

Francis II and Charles IX

The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

The War of the Three Henrys

The Edict of Nantes

Cardinal Richelieu

Part VII: The British Isles

The First Covenant

Continuing Persecution in England

The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

The Spanish Armada

Sidebar: St. John Ogilvie

Part VIII: The Thirty Years War (1618–1648)

Map: After the Wars . . . The Catholic Recovery, 1650

Part IX: Missionary Apostolate

St. Francis Xavier

Sidebar: St. Thomas Christians

Sidebar: The Church in China Today

The Philippines and Africa

Part X: The New World

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Spanish Missions

Slavery and St. Peter Claver

Missionary Activity in North America

Founding the Catholic Colony of Maryland

Long‑Term Assignment

Study Questions

Practical Exercises

From the Catechism

Chapter 7:
The Church and the Age of Enlightenment

Chapter Planning Guide

Chapter Objectives

Keys to this Chapter

Part I: King Louis’s France

Louis XIV, the Sun King

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes

Part II: The Stuart Kings of England

James I and Charles I

Persecution of the Irish

Rise of Parliamentary Democracy in England

Part III: The Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment

Descartes and Bacon

A New Understanding of the Universe

Galileo Galilei and the Scientific Method

Part IV: The Protagonists of the Enlightenment and its Effects

Deism and Masonry

Febronianism and Josephinism

Suppression of the Jesuits

Part V: From Revolution to Republic

The Old Regime: Three Estates

The Financial Crisis

The Estates General

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy

Sidebar: The French Underground: Bl. William Joseph Chaminade

The French Republic

Part VI: The Death of Louis XVI and the Age of the Revolutionary Republic

The Reign of Terror and the “De‑Christianization” of France

The Election of Pius VII

Part VII: Napoleon BonaParte

The Consulate and the Concordat of 1801

The Organic Articles

The Coronation of Napoleon I

Emperor Napoleon Against Pius VII

The French Council of 1811 and the Concordat of Fontainebleau

The Fall of Napoleon

Long‑Term Assignment

Study Questions

Practical Exercises

From the Catechism

Chapter 8:
The Church Gives Witness in Wars and Revolutions

Chapter Planning Guide

Chapter Objectives

Keys to this Chapter

Part I: The Post‑Napoleonic Era

Metternich’s Europe: 1815–1830

The Breakdown of the Concert of Europe: 1830–1848

Part II: The Church in the Post‑Napoleonic Era

Germany and France

The United States

The British Isles

Part III: The Industrial Revolution

Social Consequences of Industrialization

From Economic to Political Revolution

Part IV: Bl. Pio Nono and the Rise of Nationalism

The Revolutions of 1848

Sidebar: Bl. John HenryCardinal Newman

The Immaculate Conception

Sidebar: Our Lady of Lourdes

The First Vatican Council

The Roman Question

German Unification and the Kulturkampf

Part V: Imperialism

The Opening of Africa

Missionary Apostolate in the Far East

Part VI: Leo XIII (1878–1903): The Church Confronts a Changing World

The Birth of Secular Humanism

Charles Darwin and the Survival of the Fittest

Karl Marx and the Politics of Atheism

The Encyclicals of Leo XIII

Inscrutabili Dei (April 21, 1878)

Immortale Dei (November 1, 1885)

Rerum Novarum (May 15, 1891)

Part VII: Pope St. Pius X (1903–1914)

The Pontificate of St. Pius X

Christian Modernists

Part VIII: War, Revolution, and Persecution

Pope Benedict XV (1914–1922)

The Rise of Soviet Communism

Sidebar: Our Lady of Fatima

Pope Pius XI (1922–1939)

The Encyclicals of Pius XI

The Church and the Rise of Nazism

Persecution in Mexico and Spain

Part IX: The Pontificate of Pope Pius XII (1939–1958)

The Pope and the World Crisis

Two Saints of the Nazi Persecution

The Teaching of Pius XII

The Church and the Communist Empire

Long‑Term Assignment

Study Questions

Practical Exercises

From the Catechism

Chapter 9:
Vatican II and the Church in the Modern World

Chapter Planning Guide

Chapter Objectives

Keys to this Chapter

Part I: St. John XXIII and the Council

The Caretaker Pope

The Second Vatican Council

The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church

The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World

Part II: Bl. Paul VI and the Postconciliar Years

Humanæ Vitæ

A Culture of Dissent and Defection

Part III: The Restoration of Confidence and Hope

St. John Paul II: The Early Years

St. John Paul II and the Contemporary World

St. John Paul II and the Church

Pope Benedict XVI as Universal Pastor

Sidebar: St. John Paul II and His Assassin

Pope Benedict’s Abdication

The Election of Pope Francis

Part IV: The Colonial Era

Part V: Catholicism and the Birth of a Nation

The Revolutionary Years (1775–1783)

The Post‑revolutionary Period

Sidebar: The Carroll Family and the Founding of the United States

Part VI: A Church of Immigrants

The Rise of Anti‑Catholicism

Part VII: Growth and Conflict

Part VIII: The Twentieth Century

The Great War and Years of Depression

World War II and After

Vatican II and the American Church

Conclusion: Present and Future

Long‑Term Assignment

Study Questions

Practical Exercises

From the Catechism

Doctors of the Church

STUDENT WORKBOOK

Student Workbook

RESOURCE MATERIALS

Chapter Quizzes

Vocabulary Reviews

Midwest Theological Forum

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Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9

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