God Saves: We Are Redeemed through the Paschal Mystery | USCCB Curriculum Framework Course III (Scripture and Paschal Mystery)

At the heart of the Christian faith is the Paschal Mystery—Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. God Saves: We Are Redeemed through the Paschal Mystery invites students to study in greater depth the saving actions of Jesus and explore God's plan of redemption. This textbook goes beyond simply recounting salvation history, offering a deeper understanding of how God's love and mercy unfolded from creation, through the fall of humanity, and ultimately in Christ’s triumph over sin and death.

Supporting Course III of the USCCB Curriculum Framework, God Saves encourages students to see their own lives in a new light, reflecting on how God counts on them to fill up “what is lacking in the affliction of Christ” (Col 1:24) in order that they might gain new life in him. Grounded in the Paschal Mystery, this perspective challenges students to consider how their own dreams, responsibilities, joys, sufferings, and daily experiences fit into the larger pattern of the story of salvation.

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 textreferenced 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 Saves 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.

(© 2024) In conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the USCCB Curriculum Framework.