Epic Allegories of the Christian Journey: Dante, Bunyan, Tolkien & Lewis

This course will examine allegorical and epic literary approaches to the Christian "Journey of Faith". The Fall Semester will feature an in-depth examinations of 14 cantos spread throughout the "Divine Comedy" of Dante. The Spring Semester will feature an analysis of John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" In addition to those two major works, occasional class meetings will also focus on the use of Allegory and Parable in the Bible, the use of allegory in the medieval mystery play "Everyman", and examples of 20th Century approaches to Christian epic and allegory, such as that of JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis.

FALL 2025: 14 Sessions - Wednesdays at 11:00 am Pacific; Noon Mountain; 1:00 pm Central; 2:00 pm Eastern from September 3 to December 17, with no meeting Wednesday, November 26 for Thanksgiving Break.

SPRING 2026: 16 Sessions - Wednesdays at 11:00 am Pacific; Noon Mountain; 1:00 pm Central; 2:00 pm Eastern from January 14 to May 6, with no meeting Wednesday, April 8 for Spring Break.

Offered through Royal Fireworks Online Learning.

About Me

I'm Kevin O'Brien! I am a creative and passionate online teacher. Here are a few things about me ... Professional Actor and Comedian Many years ago, I made a living as a stand-up comedian. I also owned my own singing telegram company and performed over 2,000 singing telegrams in the St. Louis metro area. In 1991, I performed at military bases around the world with an Old Fashioned Comedy Melodrama that I wrote and produced, on a USO-style tour. Since 1989, I have been producing and performing in my own interactive murder mystery dinner theater shows. I appear in about 150 live performances a year, at venues such as mansions, wineries and dinner trains. I write all of the scripts and we perform a different script every month! Click on the photo below to visit my murder mystery website. To get a better idea of the kind of shows we do, check out the promo video I put together for George R. R. Martin, who hired us to perform murder mysteries on his train in New Mexic...

Rave Reviews!

"I cannot tell you what a difference your class has made this semester for [my daughter]. She came downstairs the other day and said, 'I'm so sad that Mr. O'Brien's class is over.' This semester I watched some of your classes with [my daughter] because she'd say, 'Mom, you're going to love this! Pull up a chair!' You are an outstanding teacher ... We are so grateful for your impact on my daughter's life," "We love Mr. O'Brien!! Our son is really enjoying his class this semester. Thank you so much!" You are so very real and down to earth, so spontaneous. You're not afraid to just be who you are. You are alive and that's what your students love. Of course you can throw in a great sense of humor and intelligence to boot. Thank you for drawing all your friends more deeply into the mysteries of life. We can't help but think about the deeper things, the most important things in life...you lead us ...

Speech, Debate and Communications

Students will learn the fundamentals of spoken communication in this two semester course. The focus will be threefold: study, theory and application. The “Study” component will focus on the greatest speeches and debates in history, from the “Apology” of Socrates to “I Have a Dream” and beyond. These famous speeches and debates will be analyzed from the perspective of argumentation, structure and rhetorical devices, forming the theoretical basis for in-class application. The “Application” of what we learn will consist of several speeches and debates that will be conducted live in class. Students will present individual speeches and will engage in two-person debates. Students will be coached in how to avoid common errors, such as saying “like” as a filler word, how to speak extemporaneously when called upon (particularly in an oral exam) and how to be effective and engaging when addressing an audience. FALL: 15 Sessions - Tuesdays at 8:00 am Pacific; 9...

Classes with Kevin

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