Name Last modified Size Description
Parent Directory - Al_Ghazali_on_Faith.pdf 03-Dec-2009 12:12 4.2M AlfredCredo.html 19-Nov-2009 11:41 4.1K AquinasOnCausation.pdf 19-Nov-2009 19:37 149K AthanasiusOnFall.pdf 10-Dec-2009 12:15 56K AthanasiusOnFall.rtf 10-Dec-2009 12:15 13K AugustineontheCreed.pdf 02-Dec-2008 16:11 145K AverroesIncoherence2..> 19-Nov-2009 13:26 136K BenedictOnLent.pdf 01-Mar-2010 15:23 57K BoethiusLayers.pdf 19-Nov-2009 11:41 328K Centuries.html 15-Sep-2009 00:33 36K Centuries.pdf 15-Sep-2009 00:33 73K Current.html 03-Oct-2006 15:28 4.0K DeDescriptioneTempor..> 25-Jan-2009 23:54 1.4M DoveDescending.html 06-Apr-2007 13:14 898 DoveDescending.pdf 06-Apr-2007 13:14 40K Eliot-on-Pascal.html 29-Sep-2009 01:35 32K Eliot-on-Pascal.pdf 29-Sep-2009 01:35 146K EvaluationRubric 200..> 08-Sep-2008 00:31 14K EvaluationRubric.html 08-Sep-2008 00:31 22K FaithReasonUniversit..> 19-Sep-2006 16:10 26K FaithReasonUniversit..> 19-Sep-2006 16:07 25K FreedomisanArt.html 10-Nov-2006 20:06 32K FreedomisanArt.pdf 10-Nov-2006 20:00 85K InTheGulag.html 30-Apr-2009 12:44 13K IslamLetterToPope.pdf 25-Oct-2006 11:22 181K KantCritiqueIntro.pdf 10-Feb-2010 02:26 175K LactantiusonPlato.html 31-Jan-2007 23:25 15K LactantiusonPlato.rtf 31-Jan-2007 23:25 15K LockeTolerationLette..> 10-Feb-2010 01:24 355K Lords-Prayer-Layers...> 28-Jun-2010 12:46 7.0K NearlyTheyStood.html 05-Jan-2007 14:34 1.8K NearlyTheyStood.rtf 05-Jan-2007 14:33 1.1K Previous.html 03-Oct-2006 15:27 12K Prospectus2006.html 29-Aug-2006 15:22 11K SummerWorldviewChart..> 11-Feb-2008 23:29 3.9K SummerWorldviewChart..> 11-Feb-2008 22:55 143K SummerWorldviewChart..> 11-Feb-2008 22:55 25K Week00-preclass.html 12-Sep-2006 23:18 5.9K Week01-905.html 07-Sep-2006 13:05 5.7K Week02-912.html 13-Sep-2006 02:07 13K Week03-919.html 20-Sep-2006 02:45 20K Week04-926.html 03-Oct-2006 15:26 12K Week05-1003-redirect..> 03-Oct-2006 15:28 4.0K Week12-1128.html 08-Dec-2006 13:56 5.8K Week13-1205.html 11-Dec-2006 02:05 16K Week20-0220.html 21-Feb-2007 14:11 10K Week20-0227.html 28-Feb-2007 14:06 9.2K Western Civ II Books..> 22-May-2010 20:10 37K WoundedSurgeon.html 06-Apr-2007 13:14 1.4K WoundedSurgeon.pdf 06-Apr-2007 13:14 44K
Time: T/Th 1 hour at 1:00-2:00 PM
Website: http://liveoakacademy.org/faculty/~jrose/civ
Mr. DePangher: http://liveoakacademy.org/faculty/~sdepangher/Western%20Civ-Intellectual%20History
Class forum: http://rooms.liveoakacademy.org
Difficulty: college preparatory, 50-100 pages of reading per week
Students must obtain the following texts (especially the first two) before the first class meeting:
The Amazon links are provided as an example, and to make clear which edition is required. (Note that the links include the ISBN number.) There are three reasons it is important to get the specified edition. We will routinely refer to passages by page number. Also, some translations have been specifically selected by the teachers. Most importantly, students will be encouraged throughout the course to make notes directly in their books.
Students must also complete the initial reading assignment http://liveoakacademy.org/faculty/~jrose/civ/Week01.html before class. The teachers will post weekly assignments into this folder.
This class is planned for four semesters, starting in Fall 2006. We will survey the great conversation among history’s most eminent thinkers and writers, from Moses and Plato to Nietzsche and beyond modernism. Unlike many similar classes, the heart of our survey is the Incarnation of the Son of God, and the immediate cultural and intellectual effects of Christianity as it both confronted and integrated pre-Christian culture. Branching backward from there, we survey the Jewish and Greek roots of European thought. We then trace forward through the high-medieval synthesis of Christianity with the requirements of worldly rule. In the second year we will consider the transformative controversies of the Renaissance and Reformation, and finally the multiple revolutions of the modern period.
Most of our reading is in primary sources, written by many of the most eminent and admired (or hated) thinkers of all time. Our goal is first to understand each thinker on his own terms, as he would have understood himself, second to understand his thinking as an element in the centuries-long controversy and dialogue of great ideas, and third to let that Great Conversation illuminate our own world view in the present day. We will take this respectful approach this even in cases where the thinker in question is an enemy our Christian faith, in part for moral reasons, but also because we wish to test and refine our own stand by a candid examination of our philosophical opponents.
Grades in this class will depend fundamentally on your demonstrated comprehension of the readings. You, the student, are expected to participate in class discussions (in-person and on-line), to write weekly responses and journalings of your reading assignments, to produce occasional formal papers and presentations, including an end-of-year thesis, and to pass written tests (multiple-choice and mini-essay). Grading will depend about one third on participation, and two thirds on major tests and presentations, including semester finals. Further details may be found in a file named EvaluationRubric.
This class is introductory in nature. We will be reading some of the most profound books ever written, at a rapid pace. We do not expect students to fully master these books; we would not expect even adults to master them. However, we hope that students will come away with a sense of familiarity with these great writers, and of their helpfulness in understanding the human nature and condition. We intend that alumni of this class meet the great writers again, and greet them with pleased recognition, and a readiness to go deeper the second time. This has indeed been the experience of many alumni in college and afterwards.