Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially
liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own
world. And that means the old books.
C.S. Lewis
Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure
of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who
merely happen to be walking around.
G. K. Chesterton
The idea behind a Great Books course begins here: if we want the best for our
students, why not let them learn from the best possible teachers? We can find these teachers by seeing which ones have stood
the test of time; which ones have had many generations and many civilizations point to them as a building block of their culture.
The Great Books curriculum is designed around these authors. Not all are Christian (many are not), but they all have had a
great influence on us and other Christian thinkers. Thus, part of the goal of these courses is to allow the student to engage
with these authors directly, not hidden behind a veil of quotations and commentary from some modern textbook.
The
Great Books III course is centered around medieval and early modern authors. It bridges the time between the Fall of Rome
until the time of the early Reformation, and focuses on some of the highlights of Western medieval culture. Though the so-called
"Middle Ages" are sometimes merely viewed as a gap between two human centered civilizations (classical Rome and
humanist Europe), it is in fact a remarkable and unique time in Western and Christian history.
Authors and Title Reading List
Beowulf
Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People
Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy
Asser, Life of Alfred
Song of Roland
St. Benedict,
Rule for Monastaries
Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight
Anselm, Basic Writings
Thomas
Aquinas, Summa Theologiae (selections)
Dante, Divine Comedy
Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (selected)
Machiavelli, The Prince
Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene (and other selections)
Gregory Vasari, Lives
of the Artists
This is a two hour class which meets once per week,
although the tutor is available throughout the week via e-mail, phone, and online message boards:
Thursdays
1-1:50 pm PST
To register for the class, please e-mail Emily Wells at emily at artesian-wells.com
