Intellectual History, Introductory Assignment
Due Date: 9/05/2006

Welcome to Intellectual History, also known as Western Civilization.

Grades in this class will depend fundamentally on your demonstrated comprehension of the readings. You are expected to participate in class discussions (in-person and on-line), to write weekly responses and journalings of your reading assignments, to write occasional formal papers, and to pass written tests (multiple-choice and mini-essay).

Before the first class meeting on September 5, please do the following:

Read the class prospectus on the Live Oak web site:
http://liveoakacademy.org/faculty/~jrose/civ/Prospectus2006.html
(You should already have ordered the five initial books listed there.)

Register with the Live Oak bulletin board website:
http://rooms.liveoakacademy.org
Note: Do this on Monday. It is currently being refurbished. We are removing several coatings of baked-on spam.

After you register, please look for an online posting (on Monday) from your teacher, with a small writing assignment. Respond to it with your own posting, so that everyone else in the class can see that you are online.

When choosing your name, use first initial, last name; e.g., jrose. This website will be our on-line home this semester. Explore the Intellectual history room, and note the assignments and other notes. Note that your writing assignments must be delivered to this on-line room, as postings. Your participation in on-line discussions will also take place in this room.

Read the first few pages of Lewis, “On the Reading of Old Books”.
This essay is the introduction to Athanasius’ On the Incarnation. It may also be found on-line:
http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/history/ath-inc.htm

Also, begin thinking about your knowledge of history. Do you know roughly what happened in each of of the last 25 centuries? Make a list of ten really major cultural events during that time. Do you know what “great books” were written? Make a list of twenty. Be prepared to share from your lists.