Classics
Dr. Joseph A. Almeida, chair
Dr. Richard U. Smith, Jr.
Dr. Sarah K. Wear
Mission
The Department of Classics stands not only in the tradition of German philology, but also in the tradition of the medieval grammarians. These grammarians transmitted both the languages and the literatures of the ancient world to their own world of barbarization and restoration and, in so doing, created a Christian liberal arts and a Christian humanism and were responsible for the renascences of learning that marked the periods of the medieval world. We believe that Christian humanism, based on classical learning, as practiced at this University, has the same fructifying role to play in today’s world of secular barbarism as it had to play in the centuries of western European collapse and restoration after the fall of the Roman Empire.
Aims
The Classics Major provides a rigorous instruction in the ancient Greek and Latin languages and an introduction to classical and Hellenistic civilization and its reception in the history of Western civilization, in order to lay the foundations of a classical and Christian humanism such as flourished, for example, in the Franciscan schools of early modernity.
Assessment Learning Goals
- Competence in ancient Greek and Latin.
- Reading of representative texts in Greek and Latin, including Christian texts.
- Knowledge of Greek and Roman literature, and of its heritage.
Classics Course Descriptions
Greek Course Descriptions
Hebrew Course Descriptions
Latin Course Descriptions