Full Contents
Old Western Culture
- Streaming Access to all 192 Old Western Culture Lectures.
- Digital Downloads (PDFs) to the 16-volume Old Western Culture Readers Series
- Digital Downloads (PDFs) to the 16 workbooks, one for each of the 16 units.
Bonus:
- Dante’s Divine Comedy Video Course (streaming). A more in-depth study of Dante than the Old Western Culture introduction.
- Audiobooks for Dante’s Divine Comedy, read by the translator, and newly remastered.
Year-long Support and Live Component
- 40 emails sent throughout the year with reading schedule and assignments, discussion questions, audio of the reading, and private group discussion on Facebook. This is designed for busy adults, featuring a flexible leisurely schedule.
- Four optional small group live sessions with authors and instructors like Joe Carlson.
Extras
- Your package comes with access to all three Great Books Challenge Add-ons ($120 value) which offer audio, discussion questions, debates, etc.
More About Each Component
OLD WESTERN CULTURE BY THE UNIT
YEAR ONE: THE GREEKS
Unit 1: The Epics
The Epics covers the two great poems of Homer: The Iliad and the Odyssey. Join Wesley Callihan, a veteran teacher of the classics, as he guides the student through the world of Homer. In story-like fashion, he steers the reader through the plot, poetic devices, background, philosophy, history, and beauty of the poems, as well as how we should approach these monuments of Western culture from a Christian perspective.
Unit 2: Drama and Lyrics
Drama and Lyric covers the beginning of drama and some of the earliest comedies and tragedies known to the Western world. This course includes lectures on the three primary tragedians from the Ancient Greek world by Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides and also one of the most famous writers of Greek comedy, Aristophanes. The course also offers an introduction to Greek lyric poetry from the same era, including passages by Pindar, Sappho, and Quintus of Smyrna. A lecture on the minor epic poetry of Hesiod is also included as a complement to part Greeks: The Epics.
Unit 3: The Histories
The Histories introduces students to three of history’s most influential early historians. Students will learn about Herodotus, the “Father of History”, as they read his masterpiece, The Histories, and its inquiries into the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars. They will read and learn about Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War and its forays into the earliest expressions of political philosophy. And last they will read Xenophon’s Anabasis, the famous account which reads like a novel as it chronicles the march of ten thousand Greeks soldiers on their treacherous journey home through enemy territory.
Unit 4: The Philosophers
The Philosophers covers the most important works of Plato and Aristotle and introduces students to the ideas that have been wrestled with by Western Civilization for over two thousand years. The texts covered in this unit include Plato’s Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, and Republic; and Aristotle’s Metaphysics, Ethics, and Poetics. Wesley Callihan draws from decades of teaching experience as he unpacks the concepts, dispels common misconceptions, and explains how the Christian church and society at large have been influenced by the ideas of these men—both for good and for ill.
YEAR TWO: THE ROMANS
Unit 1: The Aeneid
The Aeneid unpacks one the greatest classics of the West, the Aeneid of Vergil, whose impact profoundly influenced both Roman society and medieval Christianity. Wesley Callihan guides the student through the plot, poetic devices, background, philosophy, history, and aesthetics of the poem, as well as its lasting influence on Western culture and civilization.
Unit 2: The Historians
The Historians guides students through the writings of Livy, Tacitus, Sallust, Julius Caesar, Plutarch, Quintilian, and Cicero. Discover the original works that chronicle the early history of Rome from Monarchy, through Republic, to Empire. In this unit you will discover how the Roman philosophy of history shaped the lives and culture of the Roman people, how the Roman historians recognized the signs of cultural decay in their own day, and finally, how the persecution of the Early Church played a critical role in the spread of Christianity throughout the empire.
Unit 3: Early Christianity
Early Christianity introduces students to the writings of the post-apostolic authors and their historical context. Learn about the persecutions of the early Christians and how they held fast to the faith as chronicled by the historian Eusebius. As the Church becomes more established, learn how early theologians defended the faith against various false doctrines, as was the case with Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyon. Learn about the writings of The Apologists, Clement of Alexandria, and Justin Martyr, as well as one of the earliest Christian text after the close of the Canon, the Didache.
Unit 4: Nicene Christianity
Nicene Christianity introduces students to the creeds and councils of the early Church and the fascinating story of how they came about. Wesley Callihan guides students through Augustine’s Confessions and City of God, and selections from John Chrysostom, Athanasius, and Boethius. Learn how the late Roman Christians viewed themselves as the last remnants of Paganism fell, and the Christian defense mounted by Augustine against the accusations that Rome fell because she abandoned the Pagan gods. Learn how Athanasius influenced the Council of Nicea as the Church gathered to discuss the deity of Christ.
YEAR THREE: CHRISTENDOM
Unit 1: Early Medievals
Early Medievals, The Growth of European Christianity, introduces students to life in the Middle Ages from a Christian perspective. Students will read about the military exploits of the Eastern Roman Empire under the emperor Justinian as chronicled by Procopius, the last great historian of the Roman world. Learn how the development of monasticism preserved learning and culture after the fall of the Roman Empire. Learn about the central role that Irish Christianity played in the spread of the gospel through the lives of St. Patrick, Bede, and others. Enjoy the timeless tales of Beowulf, Alfred and Great, and the origins of Arthurian legend that have shaped the Anglo-Saxon imagination for centuries.
Unit 2: Defense of the Faith
Defense of the Faith, Scholasticism in the High Middle Ages, immerses students into one of the most misunderstood periods of history. Start by learning about Anselm’s theological defense of the faith as he explains his ontological argument for the existence of God. Through Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain, learn about the background to the Crusades. Finally, learn about the Crusades themselves, both the good, and the bad. Don’t miss the harrowing tales of Vikings escaping Constantinople and knights fighting for the faith!
Unit 3: The Medieval Mind
The Medieval Mind begins by guiding students through the basics of Thomas Aquinas’ Compendium, introducing students to the medieval mindset which greatly influenced later theologians and philosophers. With this foundation, students embark on a journey through Dante’s conception of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise in The Divine Comedy, exploring medieval concepts of guilt, atonement, beauty, and the cosmos. Meet many classic characters from the Greeks to Dante’s present day as Dante uses his allegory to explore human nature, as well as the politics of his day.
Unit 4: The Reformation
The Reformation introduces students to the great minds of the Reformation: John Calvin, Martin Luther, Thomas Cranmer, and Erasmus. But a study of this tumultuous period of history would be sorely lacking without a thorough understanding of the historical setting of the Reformation. Wesley Callihan and Dr. Chris Schlect team up to lay a solid foundation for understanding the origins and struggles of the Reformation, as well as its theology and influence. Students will read part of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, as well as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Spenser’s Faerie Queene.
YEAR FOUR: EARLY MODERNS
Unit 1: Rise of England
Rise of England introduces students to some of the greatest poetry composed in the English language. Dr. Peter Leithart guides students through the three major play types by looking at the tragedy of King Lear, the history of Richard III, and the comedy of The Merchant of Venice, as well as six of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Wesley Callihan then guides students through the great epic poem: John Milton’s Paradise Lost, as well as the poetry of George Herbert, John Donne, and Marvell.
Learn about the influence this poetry had on England in its day, and the lasting legacy of these works in culture to this day.
Unit 2: Poetry and Politics
Poetry and Politics guides students through a tumultuous period of significant change in Western civilization. Nations and individuals grapple with questions of identity, what it means to be free, and what it means to be human. Enjoy the poetry of Pope, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron, Keats, Shelley, Tennyson, Browing, Arnold, Rossetti, Hopkins, and Poe. Explore the political treatises of Edmund Burke and Alexis de Tocqueville. Learn how these works reflect the period and influenced future generations.
Unit 3: The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment begins with an introduction by Dr. Mitch Stokes to background of the Enlightenment of the 18th century, starting with the Greek Pythagoreans and the “problem of change” and tracing those issues to the Scientific Revolution. Students learn about the search for certainty that led to skepticism through the works of Galileo, Descartes, Newton, Hume, Kant, and finally Reid, as each philosopher grapples with the nature of knowledge.
Unit 4: The Novels
The Novels guides students through Dickens’s heartwarming A Christmas Carol, and then turns to Dostoevsky’s darker Russian tale, The Brothers Karamozov, as well as Chekhov’s The Bet. A study of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice looks at both the story and the social setting of England during this period. Old Western Culture concludes with a hat-tip to two of the 20th-century revivors of the great books: C. S. Lewis, who coined the term “old Western culture,” and J. R. R. Tolkien, with guest lecturer Jonathan McIntosh, who guides students through the story and themes of The Lord of the Rings.
