Integrated Humanities: The Modern World

Through taking Integrated Humanities: The Modern World, students will engage with primary and secondary sources reflecting the history, literature and theology of the era. Each unit of the course is guided by a specific passage of Scripture. The weekly rhythm includes a recorded lecture as an introduction of the material for discussion, accompanied by a class session for Socratic discussion. Students will develop their critical thinking and presentation skills through the various assignments, both written and oral, for the course. These conversations and activities all move toward equipping the student to develop a thoroughly biblical worldview.

Course Objectives:

At the end of this course, students will be able to…

1. Identify the historical context for our authors and texts.
2. Discuss at least one commonplace for each text.
3. Recite two passages of Scripture.
4. Explain the key theme(s) in their course texts.
5. Sketch a plot triangle for select readings.
6. Examine theological concepts in their course readings.
7. Evaluate texts based on a biblical worldview.
8. Develop a persuasive paper, integrating multiple course texts.

Texts:

Students will be reading all or select portions of the following texts:

• Alcott, Louisa May, Little Women
• Austen, Jane, Pride and Prejudice
• Bradford, William, Of Plymouth Plantation
• Bunyan, John, The Pilgrim’s Progress
• Burke, Edmund, The Portable Edmund Burke
• Churchill, Winston, Memoirs of the Second World War [abridgement]
• Federalist & Anti-Federalist Papers
• Grafton, John, ed., The Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History, 1775-1865
• Hobbes, Thomas, Leviathan
• Lewis, C.S., Abolition of Man
• Lincoln, Abraham, Selected Speeches and Writings
• Locke, John, “A Letter Concerning Toleration”
• Machen, J. Gresham, Christianity & Liberalism
• Marx, Karl, The Communist Manifesto
• Mill, John Stuart, On Liberty
• Milton, John, Paradise Lost
• Paine, Thomas, Common Sense
• Remarque, Erich Maria, All Quiet on the Western Front
• Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, The Social Contract
• Veith, Gene Edward, Jr., Postmodern Times
• Washington, Booker T., Up From Slavery
• Yetman, Norman R., ed., When I Was a Slave

The instructor may provide PDF documents and expects the student to have a Bible for class (the instructor will use ESV).