Biblical Foundations International - Catholic Apologetics - Gerry Matatics.org

Welcome to Biblical Foundations International - Catholic Apologetics - Gerry Matatics.org. We are an International Catholic Biblical Institute dedicated to exploring and explaining the Biblical Foundations for the Catholic Faith.

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PO Box 569, Dunmore PA 18512 USA
phone (570) 969-1724   fax (570) 969-1725
www.gerrymatatics.org   e-mail: GerryMatatics@gerrymatatics.org


Get Smart! FREE Lessons!

Get Smart! FREE Lessons!

 

UPDATE: Since none of the dozen or so students who've already signed up for one or more of the classes listed below elected to start in August (they each chose to begin only after Labor Day weekend), I’ve decided to extend the deadline until the end of this month (that’s midnight Eastern Time of this Wednesday, August 31) for people to receive as many FREE lessons as they wish. See the letter below for details.

I've also used the time to add a half dozen new courses to the fall listing:

 

Apologetics 306: The Case Against Hinduism

Apologetics 307: The Case Against Eastern Orthodoxy

Apologetics 309: The Case Against Protestantism

Apologetics 501: Anti-Sedevacantism Refuted: A Detailed Critique of John Salza and Robert Siscoe’s True or False Pope?   

Bible 101: The Basic Themes of Sacred Scripture: An Overview

Spirituality 301: Biblical Insights into the Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary

 

I’ve also decided to aggregate all the various courses I’m offering under the umbrella name of St. Hermengild College, and this fall marks the launch of that online college and its first semester. Its complete four-year curriculum will be gradually unfolded during the following months.

 

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Dear Friend:
 
During my August 5-10 trip to New England I had the privilege of visiting with some fellow recusant Catholics. A public debate with a very aggressive opponent is being planned that will take place, God willing, back in New England in the near future. It will be widely publicized, and I will tell you more about it in an upcoming post.

I tremendously enjoy traveling and meeting people in person. But I also realize that there are other, more cost-effective ways of conversing with and teaching people as well. One of the projects I’ve been working on since the beginning of this year, which has taken up so many of my days and nights, has been the development of courses that I can offer to people by videoconferencing with them on their computer, tablet, or smartphone, using Skype.

 

I’ve been teaching one couple in Texas the book of Genesis weekly this way since the beginning of this year. (Our plan is to work through the entire Bible, book by book, over the next several years.)

 

For several weeks now I’ve also been teaching a group of people spread out over several states (California, Colorado, Texas, and Pennsylvania) a course on “Catholic Themes of Sin and Redemption in the Fiction of Flannery O’Connor.”

 

Several other courses have been prepared and are now ready to be offered to the public at large. (See the exciting list below.)

 

As you know, many if not most colleges and universities have already begun their academic year. And courses even at relatively inexpensive community colleges typically cost several hundreds of dollars each.

 

Having been a college and graduate school professor myself since the 1980s (at Christendom College, St. Joseph University in Philadelphia, the University of San Diego, Aquinas College, Westminster Theological Seminary, Notre Dame Graduate School, and Our Lady of Guadalupe International Seminary), I am equipped to offer college-level instruction in the following courses, but at a mere fraction of the cost you'd incur if you were to take them at a conventional brick-and-mortar school.

 

My students and I meet face-to-face over the Internet via video calls, using a free app many of you are already no doubt familiar with called Skype. (If you don't currently use Skype, I'll personally explain to you how to download and use this free app.) Skype will enable you to see me and any visual aids I employ, ask me questions and offer comments, and otherwise visually and verbally interact with me throughout each lesson, which will be tailored to your interest and skill level.

 

The cost of each hour-long session is the amazingly low price of only $50. But if you act now, you can reduce that to the even more amazing price of only $33.33! (See special offer terms below.)

 

The frequency with which we meet is entirely up to YOU. Most students will probably want to meet with me once a week, but I’m flexible and can meet with you more often (for example, 2-3 times a week), or less often (for example, once a month) — whatever works better for you.

 

The length and depth of each course is also entirely up to YOU. (How's that for unprecedented customization?) Take any of these courses at whatever level of detail you wish. Want to study the Gospel of Mark, for example, in full detail, over sixteen sessions — one for each chapter of the gospel? Or would you rather cover it at a faster, less-detailed pace, covering the entire gospel in only eight, or even four sessions? Or are you satisfied to simply have an hour-long overview of the gospel in only one session? It’s your call!

 

The start date for the course is also entirely up to YOU. We can start on whatever date you select in September, or whenever suits you.

 

The day of the week and the time of day we meet — morning, afternoon, or evening — is also entirely up to YOU.

 

To raise funds now for my upcoming debate and our many other educational projects, I’m currently offering, from now until the end of the month, which is midnight of this Wednesday, August 31), a special offer of FREE sessions for those who pre-pay at this time. Pre-paying now does not oblige you to start the course now: you can pre-pay by the August 31 deadline to qualify for the free lesson(s), but not start your course until after Labor Day, or whenever you prefer to begin.

 

Anyone who pre-pays by 12 midnight (Eastern Time) of Wednesday, August 31, for as little as two sessions (2 x $50 = $100) will receive a third additional hour-long session absolutely FREE.

 

And you can use this deal to get as many FREE sessions as you like. For example, pre-pay for four sessions ($200) and get TWO free additional sessions (for a total of six sessions). Pre-pay for six sessions and get THREE free additional sessions (a total of nine sessions). Pre-pay for eight sessions ($400) and get FOUR free additional sessions (a total of twelve sessions), pre-pay for ten sessions ($500) — as one of my students has already done — and get FIVE free additional sessions (a total of fifteen sessions), and so forth.

 

Another way to consider this special offer (instead of viewing it as one free session gained for every two paid sessions) is that it effectively drops the price of each hour session from $50 to only $33.33 (because you’re getting, not two, but THREE sessions for each $100 you spend) — an amazing educational bargain!

 

Here are the courses I’m prepared to offer this fall:

 

Bible 101: The Basic Themes of Sacred Scripture: An Overview

 

Old Testament 101: Basics of Biblical Hebrew

Old Testament 201: The Book of Genesis

Old Testament 202: The Book of Exodus

Old Testament 208: The Book of Ruth

Old Testament 216: The Book of Job

Old Testament 228: The Book of Daniel

Old Testament 230: The Book of Jonah

Old Testament 233: The Books of First and Second Maccabees

 

New Testament 101: Basics of Biblical Greek

New Testament 201: The Gospel of Mark

New Testament 203: The Gospel of Luke

New Testament 205: The Acts of the Apostles

New Testament 206: St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans

New Testament 214: St. Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews

New Testament 219: The Apocalypse of St. John

 

Church History 101: The First Six Centuries of Christianity

Church History 401: History of the Papacy Through the Middle Ages

Church History 501: The Continental Protestant Reformation: Luther

Church History 502: The Continental Protestant Reformation: Calvin

Church History 503: The English Reformation, and Its Relevance Today

Church History 701: The Second Vatican Council: Its History, Its Sixteen Documents, and Its Implementation Up to the Present Day

 

Patristics 101: The Apostolic Fathers

Patristics 104: The Life, Theology, and Works of St. Augustine

 

Philosophy 101: History of Philosophy from Ancient Times to Today

Philosophy 201: Logic & Critical Thinking

 

Theology 101: The Doctrine of God

Theology 102: The Doctrine of the Trinity

Theology 201: St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae, Part I

Theology 401: The Doctrines Concerning Mary

Theology 491: The Doctrine of Hell 

Theology 501: Classic Catholic Moral Theology

 

Apologetics 201: The Case for Theism

Apologetics 303: The Case Against Islam

Apologetics 304: The Case Against the Jehovah’s Witnesses

Apologetics 305: The Case Against Mormonism

Aoologetics 306: The Case Against Hinduism

Apologetics 307: The Case Against Eastern Orthodoxy

Apologetics 309: The Case Against Protestantism

Apologetics 501: Anti-Sedevacantism Refuted: A Detailed Critique of John Salza and Robert Siscoe’s True or False Pope?

  

Spirituality 301: Biblical Insights into the Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary

 

Canon Law 101: The 1917 Code of Canon Law

 

Marriage and Family 101: Classic Catholic Teaching on Marriage and the Family

 

Political Science 101: Classic Catholic Teaching on the State

 

US History 101: From Earliest Colonial Times through 1865

US History 201: History of the US Presidency from George Washington through John Quincy Adams

 

World History 101: Ancient History to the Fall of Rome in AD 476

 

World Literature 101: The Greek Classics: Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey

World Literature 102: Greek Tragedy: Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles

World Literature 201: Greek and Roman Mythology

World Literature 202: Latin Classics: Vergil and Ovid

World Literature 401: Dante’s Divine Comedy

 

American Literature 501: Catholic Themes in the Fiction of Flannery O’Connor

 

English Literature 501: G.K. Chesterton: Early Works

English Literature 601: Catholic Themes in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

English Literature 602: The Works of C.S. Lewis, part one

 

Drama 201: Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Drama 202: Shakespeare’s King Lear

 

Science 102: Creation vs. Evolution

 

Education 101: Designing a Classical Catholic Homeschooling Curriculum

 

Latin 101: First Year Latin 

French 101: First Year French

English 101: English Grammar & Composition

 

Chess 101: Beginning Chess Fundamentals & Strategies

 

It's overwhelmingly unlikely, of course, that I'll actually end up teaching all these courses this fall, since I doubt that every one of these courses will have at least one person registering for it. But they are all prepared, and all available for your choosing.

 

If there is a subject you would enjoy studying with me that is not listed here, feel free to contact me with a proposal (as some of my students already have done, resulting in the new courses added to the above list). If I possess sufficient mastery of the subject to be competent to teach it, I’ll be happy to customize a course on that topic, tailor-made just for you!

 

Many other courses, to be offered in the “spring semester” (available starting in January, actually), will be listed in an email later this fall.

 

Payment may be made by PayPal, credit card (Visa, MasterCard, or Discover), or by check. You needn't pay for the entire course in advance, if you wish to devote several sessions to the topic; you can pay as you go. But to get FREE sessions, you'll need to pre-pay for at least two of your sessions by midnight of Wednesday, August 31, as explained above.

 

If you are interested in taking a course from me, I urge you to contact me as soon as possible. Logistically, I can only offer so many courses and can have only so many students at a time. (I already have twelve Skype students signed up so far.) Instruction in any of these courses is available on a first-come, first-serve basis, so email or call me TODAY to reserve your time slot — and earn your FREE sessions!

 

Yours in the one true Faith,

 

Gerry Matatics

email: gerrymatatics@gerrymatatics.org

phone: (570) 969-1724

 

 

 

 

 

Updated On: September 14th, 2016

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March 29th, 2024

Donations are to Gerry Matatics as a speaker and writer, dba ("doing business as") Biblical Foundations International (BFI). BFI is not a 501 (c) 3, tax-exempt, non-profit corporation, and donations to it are not tax deductible as such.

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BROADCAST SCHEDULE FROM NOW ON

Dear Friends:

 

<...  Continued

Date Added: Monday, November 04, 2019

Broadcast tonight (Thurs, Oct 31) at 9 pm Eastern

Dear Friends:

 

Dear Friends:

 

<...  Continued

Date Added: Tuesday, October 29, 2019