Approaches to Defending the Faith
In this course, we take a rhetorical approach to defending the faith. The defense of the faith, both to others and for ourselves, involves appeal to the whole person. This includes both giving satisfying reasons to believe, and satisfying answers to objections or hesitancies that stand in the way of belief. And yet in a real…
Plato Seminar: Philosophy and Death in the Apology and Phaedo
In this course, we will be deep-diving into two of Plato’s most important dialogues: the Apology and the Phaedo. In the Apology, we find Socrates defending himself and his teachings before the jury of Athens. Accused of corrupting the youth by turning them away from the gods, Socrates faces the death penalty. In the Phaedo,…
Philosophy for Theology
What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? Quite a lot, it turns out. This course will introduce students to the philosophical grammar that God’s people have found useful throughout the ages in grasping the content of their faith. The road between philosophy and theology has been a two-way street from the earliest days of the…
Jane Austen’s Philosophy of Virtue
Jane Austen should not be known primarily as a Regency period romance author but rather as a profound social critic and commentator. While set within romantic plotlines, her themes are those of virtue. C.S. Lewis says that her heroines learn “good sense, courage, contentment, fortitude.” Lewis is taken in by Austen’s humor and humility and…
C.S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy and Modern Civilization
In this course, students will read through the entirety of C.S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy (otherwise known as the Cosmic of Space Trilogy): Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. Lewis is known to many as a profound philosophical Christian thinker via his non-fiction writings, and as a great author of fiction via…
Philosophy as a Way of Life
What does it mean to study philosophy? Is it the act of studying philosophical texts (whether ancient or modern)? Does it predominantly involve memorizing arguments and counter-arguments about the big questions, and then trying to make some positive case for one’s own vision? Moreover, what is a philosopher? Is it simply someone who does the…
Aristotle Seminar: Plato and Aristotle Compared
Aristotle disagreed with much of Plato’s thought, but their differences are often overstated. Thought of more accurately as a student tweaking and developing the thought of his teacher, Aristotle’s agreement with Plato is as significant as his disagreements. Is the soul immaterial? What are the virtues and how does one acquire them? What is the…