Introduction To Ancient Books

Christ shines through all wisdom, even that among the folly and pagan autonomy of cultures that have rejected a common Creator, or his Christ. This course focuses on works from the classical world—Greece and Rome before the ascendancy of Christianity, from roughly 600 B.C. to 300 A.D, along with some more modern works.

You will grow in competent observing, evaluating, and synthesizing the stories, worldiviews and approaches to conversations and ideas found in these cultures. We'll also answer questions about whether the gods of Greek mythology are real in any way, what the Jews are doing in the space between the Testaments, why Tacitus dislikes Tiberius, what Cicero thinks about the good life, and how the solutions the world offers to hard questions leave us with a Christ-shaped hole.

We'll approach these questions: what is justice? what is history? what is the good life?

Course Objectives

• To become familiar with the primary points of plot, character, and style of major ancient works and authors, providing a fundamental understanding which will enable students to tackle these or other similar works in their entirety in future studies.

• To receive an overview of events in ancient history and concurrent Biblical events.

• To make connections of selected themes across a broad range of works, both contemporary and ancient, that will give them a base from which to approach other Great Books.

• To learn and execute the forms of two types of progymnasmata essays: the chreia/maxim and the confirmation/refutation.

• To receive an appreciation of the works studied at their most engaging level—as Great Stories that are enjoyable for all ages and all times.

• To approach all works from a Christian worldview and to view each selection through the lens of Scripture.

Required Texts

• Mythology (Hamilton)
• Aesop’s Fables (Aesop)
• the Bible - Joshua
• the Bible - Judges
• the Bible - Ruth
• the Bible - 1st and 2nd Chronicles
• the Bible - Ezra
• the Bible - Nehemiah
• the Bible - Esther
• the Bible - Job
• the Bible - Proverbs
• the Bible - Mark
• the Apocrypha - Wisdom, Judith, Tobit ((provided by instructor)
• The Iliad (Homer)
• The Republic (Plato)
• Annals of Rome (Tacitus)
• Cicero (selected works)
• Phantastes (MacDonald)
• Meditations (Marcus Aurelius)
• Desiring God (John Piper)
• The Histories (Herodotus)