Are you a culture maker?
If you are a writer, teacher, spiritual leader, civil servant, business leader, or creative of any kind, and you are interested in learning to think deeply, write cogently, and communicate intelligently about the literature, philosophy, and theology of the Western tradition, I want to invite you to read further.
The world we live in today has been shaped by a 25-century conversation about the perennial questions raised by the human experience.
The Coram Deo Communitas engages the classical texts that wrestle with those perennial questions of the human experience in order to discover our significance in this vast and ordered universe, imagine what the best of human community should look like, and learn what it means to live justly before the face of God.
Until the nineteenth century nearly all free men and women were conversant in the best of the western tradition’s theology, philosophy, and literature.
It was this kind of education that gave the world the art of Da Davinci and Dore, the music of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, the poetry of Dante and Milton, the politics of Adams and Franklin, the sermons of Edwards and Spurgeon, and the stories of Lewis and Tolkien.
All the great culture makers of past epochs were educated by reading and studying this conversation, the classic works of the world’s greatest writers and thinkers.
Unfortunately, the giants of today are often confined to fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. While progress necessitates there be giants in these fields, society will always consist of human beings–people.
It is the humanities that enlarge the imagination of people. It is the humanities that open the door to liberty and a humane, cultured civilization for people to enjoy.
Wherever a humane education has been ignored, dismissed, or scoffed at, history will always write the story of an enslaved people.
Without the humanities, people are left, says Hobbes, to a life that is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short–or they simply become utilitarian subjects of an ever-progressive state. Without the humanities, life would not be worth living.
By engaging the classic texts in light of the gospel message, culture makers can explore the interconnectedness of ideas within the categories of human thought and better equip themselves to discover their significance in this vast and ordered universe, to imagine what the best of human community should look like, and to learn what it means to live justly before the face of God.
For a limited time, I am offering a free 8-week, introductory course titled:
The Pursuit of Happiness: An Introduction to the Christian Vision for a Humane Life.
- The next course begins on April 5th.
- The course is FREE, but you will need Mortimer J. Adler’s Six Great Ideas ($4-$15).
- Members will be invited to a closed Facebook group.
- Members will have access to a private Google Group for course discussions.
- Members will have access to three Google Hangouts.
- The course will attempt to address/answer the following topics/questions:
- What Does Athens Have to do with Jerusalem?
- Developing Healthy Reading Habits for Life-long Learning
- Three Fundamentals They Forgot to Teach You in School
- Coram Deo Vivere: Why Theology is Essential to Everyone
- Six Great Ideas Every Human Must Wrestle With
- How to Write so Readers Remember You and Your Ideas.
- Discover Your Significance in a Clamorous Culture