HONOR 2102 - Honors Core in Intellectual Traditions II: Flowering of the Common Era & the Threshold of Modernity

This course explores the development of canonical literature, philosophy, drama, and theology from the beginnings of the Common Era to roughly the seventeenth century CE, during which time religious thinkers, poets, artists, and politicians formulated many ideas and values that still captivate people's imagination even today. Works discussed usually include St. Augustine, the Qur'an, St. Thomas Aquinas, Dante, Chaucer, Christine de Pizan, Machiavelli, and Shakespeare, but may differ somewhat from section to section according to the instructor's discretion. Themes that are covered may include: free will and divine justice, the concept of Nature, the Crusades and the conflict between Christianity and Islam, the notion of sin and hell, Renaissance humanism and secularism, and the Reformation. The course stresses careful reading, critical thinking, and good writing. Students interested in learning particular details of the texts and topics to be studied are urged to attend the Honors Preview or contact the instructors directly.