Why Believe?: Answers to Life's Questions: Vol 1

A New Curriculum for the New Evangelization

The New Evangelization requires a new apologetics, that is, a defense of the faith that responds to the questions that believers and non-believers alike are asking today with philosophical and theological arguments rooted in Sacred Scripture, Catholic Tradition, and the best philosophical reflection available. Why Believe? offers just such a new apologetics and in a format that appeals to our contemporary desire for beauty.

A year-long apologetics course, Why Believe? is intended for the use in the senior year of Catholic and independent high schools as well as by home educators and in home-school cooperatives. The curriculum consists of:

- A two-volume textbook set

- 60 short-form videos produced by the award-winning Augustine Institute Studios (available at formed.org/whybelieve).

- A Teacher s Manual

The textbooks and videos are marked by significant works of art, literature, and Sacred Scripture, offering teachers the opportunity to enliven the student's experience of the apologetic material.

The Curriculum

The Why Believe? curriculum is composed of a two-volume textbook set along with 60 short-form videos produced by the award-winning Augustine Institute Studios.

Today's Catholic high-school students daily confront the implicit claim that our secular culture provides fully for human happiness. Why Believe? responds directly to that claim by a compelling argument that faith in Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, is the only adequate answer to the human heart's desire for happiness. That argument unfolds over the 30 chapters of the two-volume textbook and is supplemented by two short-form videos per chapter. A significant feature of the Why Believe? textbooks is their beauty. Throughout the two volumes are dozens of high-quality photographic reproductions of significant artistic works. One of the series of videos provided on formed.org/whybelieve consists of commentaries on some of those artistic works. Teachers use the images in the text as the basis for their own expositions of the beauty of Catholic culture. The Why Believe? textbooks also include numerous discussions of significant works of literature (e.g. The Lord of the Rings, Macbeth, Pride & Prejudice), compelling passages from Sacred Scripture (e.g., the Parable of the Prodigal Son and the Bread of Life Discourse from John 6), and the lives of Catholic witnesses and saints (e.g. St. Dismas, St. Polycarp, St. Augustine, Caryll Houselander, Fr. Walter Ciszek).