High School Theology Textbook Series
Our high school religion textbook series offers you time-saving, fully-developed lesson plans that support your efforts to create an engaging learning environment in your classroom. As high school teachers, we’ve been in your shoes, so we understand that nobody knows your classroom like you do. That’s why the modular format of our teacher’s guides enables you to use the lessons we provide, or replace them with what you’ve seen work in your classroom.
Questions? Contact us or call (800) 888-9344
What makes Spirit of Truth unique?
Spirit of Truth is a refreshing resource that lightens your burdens while helping you lead your students to a profound encounter with Christ. Here is what makes Spirit of Truth unique:
You’re in control
Our teacher’s guides are designed to give you complete control over how you teach. You can use the modular lessons and activities our team of high school teachers have developed, or you can substitute your own lessons whenever and however you want.
Student texts are challenging, yet accessible
We carefully crafted our student textbooks to be both readable and academically-challenging. Our textbooks help students see that the Catholic Faith not only makes sense but leads them to live a virtuous life in service to God and one another.
You’ll save time
We provide a fully-developed, interactive lesson for each day of the school year, which includes readings, critical thinking questions, discussion points, sacred art reflections, saint stories, primary source excerpts, answer keys, and much more.
You’ll lead your students on a spiritual journey
While it’s important for your students to understand the principles of the Faith, Spirit of Truth is designed to help them internalize the Faith and apply it to their own lives. The results are students with strong foundations and tools for their current and future spiritual growth.
Questions? Contact us or call (800) 888-9344
Free Resources Included with Spirit of Truth
What students learn by course
Course I
The Revelation of Christ in Scripture
Students will gain knowledge and appreciation of Sacred Scripture from the Old Testament to the New Covenant in Christ, as well as the early Church. Includes a special focus on the Gospels where students will meet Jesus Christ and develop a deeper Faith in Him.
Students will be led to deeply understand the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, the living Word of God. They’ll learn who He is and what he calls each of them to be.
Course II
Encountering Christ
This course introduces students to the Blessed Trinity in and through the fullness of God’s revelation of Himself: Jesus Christ. They will study the Incarnation, the union of Christ’s two natures, Jesus as the exemplar of humanity, as well as the unique role of Mary, the mother of God.
This course prepares students to overcome the challenges of Faith, and leads them to a more profound understanding of what it means to believe.
Course III
The Paschal Mystery
In this course, students will enter into the Paschal Mystery of Christ – His Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension – and learn about how it is the fulfillment of God’s promise of redemption made to us after the Fall. They will also learn how the Church calls us to participate in the Paschal Mystery in our own lives.
Course IV
The Church is Christ’s Living Body
Students will learn the origin, foundation, and manifestation of the Catholic Church, established by Jesus Christ during His earthly life to continue His saving mission until the end of time. Through their exploration of the Church, students will consider various images of the Church, the four marks of the Church, and the role of the Church in the life of the believer.
Course V
The Sacraments
In this course students will discover how Christ is present to us in and through the Sacraments of the Church, especially in the Eucharist, which is Christ’s Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. They will systematically explore each of the seven Sacraments to better understand the essential elements and effects of each as well as how each is celebrated and lived in our daily lives.
Course VI
The Moral Life In Christ
This course will introduce students to the moral teaching of the Catholic Church with the goal of inviting them to live a moral life in Christ. Students will learn about every person’s deep desire for God that is written in our hearts and God’s plan to bring us true happiness by living as He created us to live. They will also explore the meaning of law, the Ten Commandments and Jesus’ great commandments, Jesus moral teaching and example, the reality of sin, the relationship between human freedom and conscience, and the various helps God gives to us by His grace and through the Church.
Option A:
Sacred Scripture
This course presents an overview of Sacred Scripture with a focus on providing a clear framework for understanding the narrative of Salvation History, and the development of basic principles of biblical interpretation. While an in depth study of every book of the Bible is beyond the scope of a semester course, key books, events, and figures are examined in detail with an emphasis on Jesus Christ and His Paschal Mystery as the culmination of God’s plan of salvation and the interpretive key for understanding both the Old and New Testaments.
Option B:
The History of the Catholic Church
Students will explore the history of the Catholic Church beginning with her origins in the beginning of time and institution during the earthly life of Christ, to the period of rapid growth in the apostolic era and the centuries that followed, through the rise and fall of nations, kingdoms, and Empires over the course of two millennia, to the present day. They will come to understand that the Church is Christ’s living Body present and active in the world, proclaiming the Good News of salvation anew to every time and culture, and working to sanctify the human race.
Option C:
Catholic Social Teaching
Students will learn of the body of doctrine collectively known as Catholic Social Teaching, which proposes principles for integrating the truth of the Catholic Faith into society in pursuit of justice, peace, and the common good. This course will provide an overview of this teaching, with a focus on developing an understanding of human dignity, justice, and charity in the various spheres of human life, as well as the social dimensions of the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes.
Option D:
Your Vocation in Christ
God calls every person to a vocation in life. All are called live a life of holiness in imitation of Christ, and each of us is called to a permanent state in life by which we are to live out our call to holiness in service to others: marriage, ordained priesthood, or consecrated religious life. This course will help students discover each of these vocations and begin to discern God’s calling in their own lives.
Option E:
Christ’s Church & World Religions
This course examines various major world religions through a lens of comparison to the Catholic Faith with the goal of strengthening students’ own Catholic faith. Students will come to understand what the Church teaches regarding salvation and how the Church relates to non- Catholic Christian faiths and other non-Christian faith traditions. They will come to recognize not only important ways Catholicism and other world religions differ, but also the presence of reflections of truth, goodness, and beauty present in different religious traditions and how those reflections can serve as seeds for the Gospel message.
Questions? Contact us or call (800) 888-9344
Frequently Asked Questions
All Sophia Institute for Teachers materials are written by veteran Catholic school teachers with advanced degrees. They are then tested in classrooms as well as reviewed by leading academics before publication.
Most everything you need to deliver a complete and dynamic lesson is contained in the Student Textbook, Student Workbook, and Teacher’s Guide. There are occasional references to outside websites or videos, to which we provide you with links. We also strongly recommend each student have his or her own Bible to use across in every grade level, or access to a classroom set.
Additional online supplementary materials can be found here.
Yes!
Once you adopt the Spirit of Truth theology textbooks for your school, you will be assigned a Sophia Institute master teacher for the life of the program who will provide you and your faculty with a free, live training webinar, as well as be available via email to answer questions or provide other advice. Additional webinars that help provide background knowledge on the Faith and teaching strategies may be purchased.
Our Supplements webpage also provides you with a host of additional resources to enhance your experience with Spirit of Truth High School Edition. There you will find access to tests and quizzes, a sacred art library containing all of the sacred art included in our books, and many other resources.
Please contact us us to request review copies.
We encourage you to schedule a live tour to see how Spirit of Truth can help your classroom come alive.
First and foremost Spirit of Truth High School Edition has been designed to honor your vocation as a theology teacher in a Catholic school. Your wealth of knowledge, training, and experience are instrumental to making every lesson come to life. Your witness of faith makes the single greatest impact on the spiritual growth of your students. Spirit of Truth is meant to complement all that you bring to the classroom and provide you with a toolbox of teaching strategies.
The beauty of Spirit of Truth is its lesson plan format. Its comprehensive but modular design gives you a wide selection of activities to choose from:
- Rigorous and accessible chapter texts written by leading scholars
- Classroom discussion questions rooted in the chapter text to help you facilitate a meaningful conversation with your students
- A full set of focus and reflection questions to aid your students in reading the chapter text
- Analysis of primary sources
- A collection of full lesson plans employing a variety of strategies that introduce students to theological topics, deepen and extend the learning from the chapters, and invite students to internalize learning that has occurred for their own spiritual growth
- Sacred art reflections
- Saint biographies
- And many other ways to bring the Catholic Faith to life!
Because all the readings, activities and assessments are ready to go, the sky is the limit for how you use and adapt the materials in Spirit of Truth to your own teaching style, group of students, and unique context.
To help you manage the expense of textbooks, we offer you 40% off if you order 10 copies or more of the student books.
Schools and parishes considering Spirit of Truth may receive free digital sample sets by filling out this form. Printed samples can be received on a case by case basis. Email us here to request sample sets.
If you would like additional hard copy samples, these may be purchased at regular price, and may be returned within 90 days for a full refund if you decide against adoption.
