OLD WESTERN CULTURE | GRADES 9-12+

Christendom

Early Medievals, Defense of the Faith, The Medieval Mind, and The Reformation

Christendom

Learn about St. Benedict, Charlemagne, and Alfred the Great in the first unit, Early Medievals. Discover the real story behind the Crusades. Travel through Dante’s Divine Comedy, and finally, sit down with John Calvin and other Reformers and learn about the Reformation.

How does it work?

Christendom offers a complete literature and history course. Intended for high school aged students (14+), as well as for the adult enrichment student.

Old Western Culture is a guide through the great books. Start your journey by watching the first video in a unit. Students are introduced to the work, the historical context, and given tips for reading, then assigned reading to complete before the next video lecture. After watching and reading, students answer lecture and reading comprehension questions in the workbook, which is also preparation for the exam that accompanies each unit. The workbook can also be used as a guide for discussion in a group setting.

What Will I Be Reading?

Christendom offers the student an overview of the history, theology, philosophy, and poetry produced by Christian authors from the early medieval period to the Renaissance.

  • Early Medievals—works from the early medieval period such as The Rule of Saint BenedictEcclessiastical History of the English People, and Beowulf.
  • Defense of the Faith—works by Christian authors from the high Middle Ages such as Anselm of Canterbury, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and Jacobus de Voragine.
  • The Medieval Mind—an abridgement of Thomas Aquinas’ Compendium and the entire Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.
  • The Reformation—a wide selection of Reformation and Renaissance era works ranging from Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses to The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser.


Just want to study the highlights? We also offer the Essentials Schedule—a selection of Old Western Culture’s complete reading list.

  • 1 full year of instruction divided into four units: Early Medievals, Defense of the Faith, The Medieval Mind, and The Reformation.
  • 48 lectures.
  • 30-40 minutes per lecture.
  • 4 quarterly exams.
  • Through the Old Western Culture Readers, an edition of the works covered for each unit.
  • Hundreds of classical paintings, maps, timelines, and more woven into the video lessons.

Preview

Preview clips from Old Western Culture’s video lectures.