伟大的著作 Program

The 伟大的著作 Program leads students to ponder fundamental questions through the greatest texts 从 classical antiquity to modernity, 从 荷马致阿奎那 从 Dante to Dostoevsky.

Benedictine College’s 伟大的著作 Program was named one of the 25 Best 伟大的著作 Programs in America by Best College Reviews.

Want a taste of the program? 试 伟大的著作 interest track this summer during our Catholic academic youth camp, BCYC浸.

The 伟大的著作 Program at Benedictine College is an option for students who want to fulfill general education requirements (which all students must take) in a more traditional Liberal Arts format. 伟大的著作 scholars at Benedictine College study the foundational works of Western thought. The courses are open to all students, 无论大, allowing anyone who wants to encounter history’s great minds in a seminar environment the ability to enroll.

Because the Liberal Arts constitute one of the four pillars of a Benedictine education, many courses at Benedictine College qualify as 伟大的著作 courses. Our specific 伟大的著作 courses follow a chronological sequence which follows over four semesters the historical development of human thought and imagination in history: The Ancient World, 中世纪, The Renaissance and The Moderns. (To allow students greater flexibility of schedule, it is occasionally permitted that the courses be taken in a different order.)

The Printed Page and Beyond

伟大的著作 scholars will also be encouraged to participate in Benedictine College’s “信仰与理性” three-semester sequence which systematically examines the great works in philosophy and theology.

To encourage camaraderie among 伟大的著作 scholars, Benedictine College will provide opportunities for the scholars to meet and further investigate literature and the arts, including visits to such places of cultural and intellectual interest as the Nelson-Atkins Museum and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. 在这些访问中, students will be accompanied by professors so that the classroom discussion environment can embrace not only great books, but also great works of music, 艺术与戏剧.

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Cicero made the argument for 伟大的著作 in his day when he said:

“Books are full of such precepts, and all the sayings of philosophers, and all antiquity is full of precedents teaching the same lesson; but all these things would lie buried in darkness, if the light of literature and learning were not applied to them. How many images of the bravest men, carefully elaborated, have both the Greek and Latin writers bequeathed to us, not merely for us to look at and gaze upon, but also for our imitation!” (阿奇亚·波塔尼教授, 14)

From 首页。r to Dante, 从 Plato to Dostoevsky, 从 Augustine to Sartre, the 伟大的著作 offer students the opportunity to encounter the great minds that shaped the world we live in. By entering the conversation with great thinkers about the fundamental problems facing mankind, 伟大的著作 students will be able thoughtfully to consider perennial truths, timelessly expressed, embodied in the classics of our civilization.

最重要的是, a 伟大的著作 education results in a graduate who is passionate about seeking the truth and is rooted in the Western tradition, but also enriched in many other ways. Reading the 伟大的著作 and discussing them in seminars give students the skills in thinking critically, writing clearly and pursuing the truth together with others that employers and graduate schools highly value and that serve students well in all walks of life.