Plutarch's Lives: How to Build a Good City

This course aims to shed more light on existing understanding of Greek and Roman history and culture by focusing on a handful of key themes involved in the foundings of the most important Greek and Roman cities. The main texts will be selected Lives of Plutarch, who aimed to write not strict histories, but biographies - and in so doing, created one of the most interesting and enjoyable collections of practical politics the world has seen. (As an important contemporary point of contact, along with the Bible Plutarch’s Lives were very frequently cited by the American Founders, and the ideas in the Lives continue to be relevant to all discussions of liberty, power, and happiness today.)

The format of this course will be: one or two weekly recorded lectures, relevant reading selections with assigned analytical-interpretive paragraph writing, occasional online quizzes, weekly 1.5 hour live recitations, and a final 1,200-1,500 word essay. (Students not pursuing diploma-credit will be exempt from the paragraph-writing, quizzes, and essay, but must listen to the lectures and attend the recitation sessions.)

Course Objectives

1. To gain a better appreciation of the historical challenges the Greeks and Romans faced as they founded and developed their distinctive types of government, and tried to provide for their security and perpetuation.
2. To develop the skill of closely reading a variety of texts, seeking to allow them to suggest and refine the interpretive questions we bring to them.
3. To synthesize themes and messages drawn from several types of writing about the same topic, so as to arrive at a more robust and considered view of the whole.
4. To engage with great characters and events of the past with a developing sense of their fundamental connectedness to and relevance for our own present and future.
5. To clarify and sharpen a distinctively Christian understanding of politics in general in a fallen world by examining the light of common grace and consulting Scripture for correctives as needed.

Texts

• Plutarch's Lives, Vol. 1, ISBN-10: 9780375756764

Note: New sections of this course will open as needed. To discuss options, contact timothy.enloe@kepler.education.