God Loves: Jesus Christ Enters the World is an introduction to Jesus Christ as God Incarnate and the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. This course focuses on God’s revelation through the Incarnation and its transformative impact on those baptized in Christ. This transformation is manifested in students making personal choices to be committed disciples of Christ. But how do they reach this goal? By first hearing the Good News and then understanding its meaning. This text traces how the Father’s eternal plan culminated in his coming to the world in the Divine Person of the Son of God and how that event impacts our own individual lives. It is a plan formed and sustained by the love of God
God Loves, based on Course II of the USCCB Curriculum Framework, is perfect for a one-semester course on Scripture and Christology. This text explores what Jesus reveals about God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Trinity--three Divine Persons in one God--and our relationship with the Trinity. Students will learn about these mysteries by studying early Church heresies, along with the teachings of Church Fathers and saints. At its heart, the message is simple and personal: "God is Love," which the text encourages students to reflect on in prayer.
Input from Catholic high school theology teachers, students, and educational experts shaped this text, ensuring a student-friendly design and a portable 6" x 9" format that’s easy to carry and features:
- Inspiring artwork--both classical and contemporary--opens each chapter, encouraging spiritual reflection and further study.
- Focus questions engage students with the chapter’s core theme, reinforced throughout the chapter in multiple ways to cater to diverse learners.
- Bolded vocabulary terms with definitions in the margins and glossary enhance understanding.
- End-of-section assessments include reading comprehension, vocabulary, and personal reflection questions check students’ understanding.
- "Pull-out" sections offer fresh perspectives on each chapter’s objective.
- Enrichment text referenced in footnotes provide opportunities for students who want to go deeper into the material or for an honors-level course.
- Chapter summaries restate the focus question, provide a review, feature a faithful disciple profile, and conclude with a prayer connected to the content of the chapter.
- Five creative student project options adapt to various learning styles (essays, art projects, oral presentations, and so on) and class formats, such as block scheduling and group assignments.
- Online Resources: a wide variety of classroom resources including videos, PowerPoints, handouts, crossword puzzles, reading guides, and tests are available on the Ave Maria Press classroom resource website.
God Loves supports the mission of evangelizing catechesis offered by the USCCB’s Institute on the Catechism: to proclaim the core message of the Gospel, to accompany students on their journey of faith, and to send out students as missionary disciples who witness to the Good News in word and deed.
((c) 2024) In conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the USCCB Curriculum Framework.