HON - Honors Course Descriptions
Begins the exploration of the origins of Western tradition in the epic poems of Homer, the plays of the great Greek dramatists of the Athenian Golden Age, and the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides.
Admission to the Honors Program
Continues the work of the first seminar with a focus on the writings of Plato and Aristotle and a transition to the literary and philosophic works of Roman authors and others who write about Rome and her legacy. With this seminar the work of syntopic reading begins as students reflect upon the relation of the ideas of one age upon those of another.
Admission to the Honors Program and
HON 101
Focuses on the writings of the Greek and Latin Fathers of the Church and introduces into the syntopic discussion the ideas, teachings, and discipline of Christianity.
Admission to the Honors Program and
HON 102
Focuses on great works form the high Middle Ages, including the philosophical and theological writings of Saints Anselm, Bonaventure, and Thomas Aquinas, and the literary writings of Langland, Chaucer, and Dante. The syntopic discussion continues by viewing the syncretism of medieval Christendom against the classicism of Greece and Rome.
Admission to the Honors Program and
HON 201
Focuses on great works from the Renaissance, including the writings of Machiavelli, Montaigne, Pascal, Descartes, and Shakespeare. The syntopic discussion continues reflection on the relation between Renaissance thinkers and their Christian and classical predecessors.
Admission to the Honors Program and
HON 202
Focuses on great works from the Enlightenment, including the writings of Swift, Hobbes, Locke, Voltaire, Burke, and the founding fathers of the United States. The syntopic discussion continues weighing the influence of the critical ideas of the past during the beginnings of significant political and economic transition in the Western world.
Admission to the Honors Program and
HON 301
Focuses on great works from the nineteenth century, including the writings of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Darwin, Nietzsche, and Newman. The syntopic discussion continues its critical comparison of ideas, attempting to appreciate the influence of the past on the beginnings of modernity.
Admission to the Honors Program and
HON 302
Examines the works of selected influential writers, profane and religious, from the 20th century, including Sartre, Camus, Eliot, and St. Pope John Paul II. In the future, some of these books may find their way securely onto the list of 'great books,' others may not. At any rate, the Honors Program comes to a close with an attempt to achieve some initial understanding of how our predecessors' ideas, good and bad, have shaped our own times.
Admission to the Honors Program and
HON 401