Great Books 302

Instructor: Mr. D.O. “Oliver” Woods 
E-mail: Admin@KingsWayClassicalAcademy.com
Phone: 503-658-0385

Course Description

This is an omnibus course blending world
history, philosophy, literature, and theology. Coursework integrates material
from the Introductory course by requiring student to read and interact with
excerpts from the Great Books, most available on-line. Instructor typically
selects about half of the authors from the Intro course for in-depth reading.
The student approaches reading with the objective of writing a paragraph
response to a set of discussion questions, which become part of the permanent
portfolio. Seminar discussion with tutor or class meets daily in the online forum. 

Student selects one author per course, for which he expands his written
response into a 2000 word essay. Reading assignment ranges from 35 to 50 pages
every two weeks for each classical author. Although they may be taken
separately, the Great Books Colloquium is usually taken concurrently with the
corresponding Great Books Introduction. Supplementary Textbooks: Keys to the Classics II, Student and Teacher’s Manual and “Worldviews in Conflict” by Kevin Swanson.

In our second sweep through the later medieval period we
look even more closely at the philosophical undercurrents that foreshadowed the
modern era. The stage was set with the nominalism of William of Occam and the
curtain came down on the work of Johann Goethe in Germany. Occam challenged the
Aristotelian particularism introduced to the church by Thomas Aquinas. He
launched a long era of secularism by denying that universals have any real
existence. Men begin to live out the implications. Some like Thomas A Kempis by
retreating into a radical pietism. Others like Leonardo Da Vinci by trying to
make sense of the world without reference to God. John Foxe recorded the
martyrdom of those who held to the Biblical standard. The course examines how
that standard was planted in the New World by pioneers like John Winthrop and
Cotton Mather. Unfortunately, its potential was stunted by the Enlightenment
rationalism of Montesquieu, Voltaire, and ultimately James Madison.

• Tuition:     $275 Premier    OR 
   Tuition:      $25 Basic
• Mode:      Asynchronous        Mode:       Self-taught
• Offered:    Fall                            Offered:     Fall
  or Spring
• Textbook:  See
  above                Textbook:  
  See above