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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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