Deep Read of the Greeks

Deep Read of the Greeks is a 3-credit, integrated humanities course that uses select works from Old Western Culture along with principles from Mortimer Adler’s How to Read a Book for a slower, deeper read of the respective course material. The course’s purpose is to lead the student through foundational works of Western Civilization and live discussions that include history, literature, and philosophy/theology from a Christian approach. Deep Read of the Greeks guides the student through the works using deductive skills such as using the author’s own work to interpret the author’s use of terms and key points. The student learns to think critically about the work, to develop interpretive questions, to contemplate universal questions of what it means to be human, and to provide well-reasoned oral responses.

This course is broken down into 4 quarters consisting of 8 weeks each quarter to make up a 32-week course. Each quarter students will be expected to watch a weekly pre-recorded lecture, read weekly material, develop interpretive questions, and use the material to prepare responses to be used in the weekly 1.5-hour live discussion. Students will turn in weekly commonplace journal submissions ranging from 200-250 words, and one 1200-word essay per quarter. The student will present one five-seven-minute speech per quarter, and complete a quarterly exam. Students should plan to commit ten hours a week to class preparation in addition to the 1.5 hour live discussion.

Course Objectives:

1. To give exposure to varied ancient literary works
2. To actively participate in what Mortimer Adler calls Great Conversations
3. To interrogate texts which lead to interpretive questions designed to stimulate conversation
4. To engage in parliamentary conversational skills which may lead to respectful disagreement
5. To recognize universal truths of literature as they relate to Christian thinking
6. To write well-reasoned essays
7. To present speeches
8. To develop the habit of commonplace journaling

Texts:

• Quarter One: Homer’s Odyssey
• Quarter Two: Aristophanes, Sophocles
• Quarter Three: Plato’s Republic, Apology of Socrates
• Quarter Four: Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics