Complete Lecture List for Old Western Culture
Old Western Culture is our literature curriculum which guides students through the great books of Western civilization from the ancient Greeks to the Early Modern period. It is divided into four years (The Greeks, The Romans, Christendom, and Early Moderns), and each year has four units. We publish details about each year and unit on their own pages, but below is all 192 lectures from Old Western Culture in one place! COMPLETE LECTURE LIST FOR THE GREEKS THE EPICS:Lecture 1 – Introduction to Old Western CultureLecture 2 – The Backdrop to the Iliad.Lecture 3 – The Anger of Achilleus. (Iliad … Continue Reading “Complete Lecture List for Old Western Culture”
Why Readers, Scientifically, Are The Best People To Fall In Love With
I recently read an article about why readers, scientifically speaking, are the best people to fall in love with. I agree! I married a woman who loves to read, and loves to learn! She read all the right books while growing up! (Incidentally, she took Wes Callihan’s Great Books courses online in high school). The article points to several benefits that reading will bring a reader. It enables them to speak to someone in a meaningful way. It allows a person to understand other people; it teaches the art of empathy. And it gives wisdom that years of actual experience … Continue Reading “Why Readers, Scientifically, Are The Best People To Fall In Love With”
The Old Western Culture Great Books List
Old Western Culture is a great books curriculum with a distinctly Christian “great books” reading list. It includes all the famous favorites you’ll recognize from series like the Britannica Great Books of the Western World, but also includes books that are often left out of modern editions for various reasons, most often because they are from the “Age of Faith.” We include more works from the early Church Fathers, Medieval period, and the Reformation. These are deeply influential and formative books on Western civilization, and worthy of inclusion in great books series. These books are part of our Christian and cultural inheritance, and … Continue Reading “The Old Western Culture Great Books List”
Athenian reaction to defeat similar to US reaction to 9/11 terrorist attacks
In this excerpt from The Histories, part of the Old Western Culture series, a Great Books video course, Wes Callihan shows how the reactions that the Athenians had to a defeat is very similar to other reactions of democracies throughout history, and specifically similar to the reaction of the United States to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. Thucydides wants us to make these parallels as he explains at the beginning of “The History of the Peloponnesian War.” YouTube version here.
Feeding the Dragon
The realm of fairy-story is wide and deep and high and filled with many things: all manner of beasts and birds are found there; shoreless seas and stars uncounted; beauty that is an enchantment, and an ever-present peril; both joy and sorrow as sharp as swords. —J. R. R. Tolkien, On Fairy Stories [dropcap]T[/dropcap]here is a certain something about fairy tales that keeps us coming back for more. It’s quite puzzling, really, when you think about it: we know these stories so well, and yet we never tire of hearing them. By all accounts, we ought by now to be … Continue Reading “Feeding the Dragon”
74 Books I Read Aloud to my Children
I recently had the pleasure of listening to Andrew Pudewa, the director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing and a father of seven, speak at an education conference on the importance of reading aloud to your children. As he spoke, I recalled with delight the many hours I spent reading to my four children before they went to sleep. My eldest is about seven years older than the youngest. I would first read the Bible, making sure I at least turned the page every night. We read it all the way through, Genesis to Revelation, over and over again (once we finished … Continue Reading “74 Books I Read Aloud to my Children”
Interview with Andrew Pudewa on Classical Education
Daniel Foucachon interviews Andrew Pudewa from IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing) at the CiRCE Institute summer conference in 2015 on the subject of Classical Education. Subjects covered: What are some of the greatest “Great Books”? How do we deal with feeling inadequate to give a classical education to our children? What are some good books to get started with a classical education? If you could dine with any three educators, who would they be? What advice (and resources) do you have for writers? Poetry, learning styles, memory, history of education in America, and more! YouTube version HERE. Bibliography Books … Continue Reading “Interview with Andrew Pudewa on Classical Education”
A Conversation with John Hodges about The Center for Western Studies
Daniel Foucachon sits down with John Hodges from The Center for Western Studies, to discuss what they are all about, and why they offer a Gap Year Program. ABOUT CWS: “The Center for Western Studies is an experiment in education. Our goal is to offer our students two things: a Christian view of the world, and a study of the ideas that shaped Western civilization. Western culture is by no means perfect, but it is ours, and so it is essential as Christians that we engage with it, reflect on it, sort out the good from the bad, and in … Continue Reading “A Conversation with John Hodges about The Center for Western Studies”
A glimpse at what we lost when we abandoned classical education
Mark Twain is attributed with the saying “Those who don’t read have no advantage over those who can’t.” We are now a couple generations away from our forefathers who abandoned classical education. We are now the generation that does not even know what it has lost. Wes Callihan gives a glimpse at the kind of richness we have lost in this excerpt from the Old Western Culture curriculum on the great books of Western civilization. If you don’t study the classics, you have no advantage over those who can’t. Roman Roads Media provides tools to help you accomplish this task! Get started today! … Continue Reading “A glimpse at what we lost when we abandoned classical education”
Cicero on Rhetoric: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos
Wesley Callihan tells the story of Cicero and Varres, and how Cicero used Rhetoric to convince his audience that Varres was wrong. We can see the three branches of good rhetoric: Ethos (appeal to authority), Pathos (appeal to emotion), Logos (appeal to reason). This excerpt is taken from The Historians, a unit from the Old Western Culture curriculum on the great books of Western Civilization. For a complete Rhetoric curriculum, where these ideas are taught in depth, see Fitting Words: Classical Rhetoric for the Christian Student. YouTube version