Senior Course (15 yrs and up), $195, 14 week course – Prerequisite: Foundational Great Books
(Extra Evaluation Version available - see below)
This is a sequel to the Foundational Great Books course. The ultimate aim of this course is for the students to develop a deeper and richer appreciation of our entire Christian/Western culture, as well as our place within that culture - in short to cultivate Classical-Christian literacy. Students will delve into these iconic writings, asking questions such as: Do we know what death is? How do we live a good life? What is the nature of art and beauty? They will witness Plato's famous rendition of Socrates' final conversation, and Aristotle's pivotal treatise on art. They will enjoy the beauty of more deeply understanding man's calling through Aquinas, find parallels to their own life through studying the allegory of Christian's journey in Pilgrim's Progress, and immerse themselves in the beautiful, but agonizing, Russian world of the Brothers Karamozov. These works will make a lasting impact.
To Buy:
- All works are will be available online, but students would benefit by reading a hard copy of Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and may wish to access hard copies of other works for ease of reading.
Reading List:
- Phaedo by Plato
- The Women of Trachis by Sophocles
- Poetics by Aristotle
- Short works by Epicurus, Cicero, Seneca and Justin Martyr
- On Active and Contemplative Life by Thomas Aquinas
- The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (selections)
- The Divine Comedy: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri (excerpts)
- Of Experience by Michel de Montaigne (a selection from his Essays)
- Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, Part 1
- Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
Extra Evaluation Information
Students interested in taking the extra evaluated version of this course can find more information and a grade breakdown on our Continued Great Books fact sheet. This version partially fulfills the admission requirements for the WISDOM/Augustana University Partnership. It may also be taken by students not pursuing the Augustana application but who desire more rigorous assessment.