Great Books 1: Ancient & Classical Times - TNSP

Self-Paced Courses are accessed through our learning management system. The students are guided by clear weekly schedules, instructional videos, and automated assessments. Courses are written to be completed in one academic year, but students set their own pace. No grading is provided, but answer keys are available for most courses. Access is for one calendar year.

Course Description: Our great books courses are 3-in-1 classes that integrate Literature, Philosophy, and Theology into a single reading sequence. Courses are organized by historical period, with purposeful repetition across the curriculum.

The class format is that of a great books seminar--students read primary works from the great authors and authoresses of Western Civilization and then discuss them in a round-table format, thus joining what has been referred to as the "Great Conversation." The students learn to read, listen, speak, relish, and dispute the true, good, and beautiful things that "our tradition" has to offer.

Though primary works are read, care is taken to see that students are not overburdened, through abridgment and editing of the works read and study aids. Literary concepts and formal analysis questions form part of the weekly exercises.

History & Composition: This course is part of an integrated course cluster that includes History 1: Ancient & Classical Times and Composition 1. Self-paced and Live course options are available.

Reading List: This course covers the three great, ancient contributors to the West: the Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Romans.

Great Books Excerpts and Themes (approximate):

• Genesis—Creation
• Genesis—Covenant
• Exodus—The Chosen People
• Exodus & Leviticus—Law, Sin, and Offering
• Deuteronomy—Blessing & Curse
• Job—The Problem of Evil
• Sirach—Filial Fear & Wisdom
• Jonah—The Breadth of Compassion
• Hesiod, Theogony—The Muses
• Homer, Iliad—Excellence, the Hero & the Wife
• Homer, Odyssey—Quest: Rights of Passage
• Homer, Odyssey—Quest: The Return
• Aesop's Fables—Folk Wisdom, Lying
• Lives of the Eminent Philosophers—Enquiry, Thales of Miletus
• Herodotus & Thucydides—From Story to Enquiry
• Sophocles, Antigone—The Power of the State
• Plato, Courage—Socrates on Courage
• Aristophanes, The Clouds—What is the Goal of Education?
• Plato, Phaedo—What is the Best Way to Live and Die?
• Aristotle, Ethics—Virtue
• Aristotle, Politics—True Government
• Euripides, Alcestis—Love
• Virgil, Aeneid—Roman Piety & Patriarchy
• Cato, De Agri Cultura—Men of the Land
• Cicero, De Officiis—Natural Law
• Cicero, Against Cataline—Oratory & Civic Law
• Virgil, Aeneid—Republic & Empire
• Marcus Aurelius, Meditations—Roman Stoicism
• St. Augustine, City of God—The Failure of Rome