Christendom: Old Western Culture

This course utilizes lectures and readings from the Old Western Culture curriculum. As an integrated humanities class, it offers the student an overview of the history, theology, philosophy, poetry and art produced by authors from the early medieval period to the Reformation. Students will watch lectures by master teachers Wes Callihan and Dr. Chris Schlect. They will read timeless texts, learn from some of the brightest minds in history, and complete assignments in a Workbook to guide them through their journey. In weekly recitations with Dr. Soderberg, students will discuss the weekly material, share insights, and pursue wisdom together.

Note: this course counts for the 9th grade “Medieval” Integrated Humanities credit required by the Kepler Education Diploma Track.

Course Objectives:

1. To be able to think Christianly about perennial human questions.
2. To cultivate an appetite for learning as a way of life (the life of the mind).
3. To cultivate a desire to pursue the highest things in opposition to the modernist worldview.
4. To become proficient in the conversational approach to learning: close readings, interpretive questions, and Socratic discussions of the texts.
5. To develop lateral thinking skills by analyzing and synthesizing themes and motifs.
6. To gain a grasp of the main historical figures and the overall cultural framework of the medieval and early modern period.
7. To learn from both the mistakes and triumphs of the past, to help us live more faithfully in the present.
8. To be proficient in writing the persuasive essay.

Texts: (students will read all, or selections from the following)

Through the Old Western Culture Readers, students can easily access a print edition or e-book of the works covered in each unit. (Note: Roman Roads Media offers a special 25% discount on all Old Western Culture lectures, Workbooks, and Readers for students at Kepler Education.)

Quarter 1 - Early Medievals

• The Rule of Saint Benedict
• Wars of Justinian by Procopius
• History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours
• Book of Pastoral Rule & Dialogues by Gregory the Great
• Confession & Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus by St. Patrick
• The Life of St. Columba by Adomnan of Iona
• The Voyage of Brendan
• Beowulf
• Ecclessiastical History of the English People by Bede
• Life of Charlemagne by Einhard
• Life of Alfred by Asser
• The Fount of Knowledge by John of Damascus

Quarter 2 - Defense of the Faith

• Proslogium & Cur Deus Homo by Anselm
• History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth
• The Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine
• The Conquest of Constantinople by Geoffrey de Villehardouin
• The Life of St. Louis by Jean de Joinville

Quarter 3 - The Medieval Mind

• Compendium by Thomas Aquinas
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Quarter 4 - The Reformation

• The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
• Clericis Laicos & Unam Sanctam by Boniface VIII
• Defensor Pacis by Marsilius of Padua
• Sacrosancta & Frequens, from The Council of Constance
• Julius Exclusus by Erasmus
• Ninety-Five Theses, Letter to the Christian Nobility, & Babylonian Captivity of the Church, The Freedom of the Christian by Martin Luther
• Exsurge Domine by Leo X
• The Schleitheim Articles by Michael Sattler
• Apology of the Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon
• Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
• The Decree of the Council of Trent
• Spiritual Exercises by Ignatius of Loyola
• Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism by Zacharias Ursinus
• Book of Common Prayer
• Foxe’s Book of Martyrs by John Foxe
• An Admonition to Parliment by Field and Wilcox
• The Laws of Ecclesastical Politie by Richard Hooker
• The Faerie Queene, Amoretti, & Epithalamion by Edmund Spenser

What Do We Mean by "Old Western Culture"?