GSTR 220-E (Western Traditions I)
Dr. Jeff Richey, Instructor (x 3186) and Ms. Kelli Burton, Teaching Assistant (502-744-7598)
Berea College, Fall 2005 MWF 9, Emery 206
COURSE DESCRIPTION
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
COURSE CALENDAR
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Courses in “Western Traditions” at Berea College center on ideas, social structures,
institutions, technology changes, and beliefs that have shaped Western
cultures. Through study of primary
texts students are grounded in the broad history of Western
traditions.
Concerning traditions, the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre
has written:
All reasoning takes place within the context of some
traditional mode of thought, transcending through criticism and invention
the limitations of what had hitherto been reasoned in that
tradition: this is as true of modern physics as of medieval logic.
Moreover when a tradition is in good order it is always partially
constituted by an argument…. Traditions, when vital,
embody continuities of conflict.
By introducing you to representative writings from Hebrew, Greco-Roman,
Christian,
and Islamic traditions,
this section of GSTR 220 invites you to explore “continuities of conflict”
in ancient and medieval Westerners’ changing conceptions of their creator(s),
themselves, and others as part of creation.
Course Goals
• A basic acquaintance with the core literary, philosophical, and religious
traditions of the West
from antiquity to approximately 1300 CE
• A basic competence in speaking, listening, reading, and writing about
primary
texts
• A basic facility with library resources for the study of primary
texts
Course Materials
1. Mark Kishlansky, et al, eds., The Western World (Boston: Pearson
Custom Publishing, 2004) (WW)
2. William H. McNeill, History
of Western Civilization: A Handbook, 6th ed. (Chicago and London:
University of Chicago Press, 1986) (HWC)
3. R. A. Nicholson, trans., Selected
Poems of Rūmī (Mineola, NY: Dover Thrift Editions, 2001)
4. Various readings available online, as indicated in Course Calendar below (۞) BACK TO TOP
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
• Participation
in all class sessions. The instructor reserves the right to reduce
the final grades of students who miss class. Excuses for absences may be
sought, but may not necessarily be granted.
• Submission of weekly responses to assigned readings, e-mailed
to the instructor most Fridays
beginning on September 9, and consisting of questions and concerns raised
for you by each week’s assigned readings. Do not summarize the assigned
readings. In order to receive full credit, the text of each e-mailed
response must be no less than 250 words, and should be composed in clear standard
English prose without any mechanical
errors. Each response will be graded pass/fail, and cannot be made
up at a later date.
• Oral presentation of 1
agenda. Classroom discussion of each assigned reading will be preceded
by the oral presentation of an agenda
by one student; scheduling
of these presentations will take place on August 31.
• Completion of two essays,
due as attached Microsoft Word documents e-mailed to the instructor no later than October
21 and December 7, respectively. Further guidelines
for these essays are available here.
• Completion of 1 final examination, to be administered
from 10-11:50 a.m. on December 15 in Draper 204-C. Further guidelines for
this examination are available here.
Course Assessment
Reading responses = 20% of course grade
Agenda presentation = 20% of course grade
Research essay = 40% of course grade (20% each)
Final examination = 20% of course grade BACK TO TOP
Course Calendar
Week 1
8/31 Introduction to the course
9/2 Lecture on HWC,
3-28 -- see also Canaan
and Ancient Israel (۞)
Week 2
9/5 Seminar on Genesis
2:4-3:24 (۞)
9/7 Seminar on Genesis
17:1-22 (۞)
9/9 Seminar on Exodus
19:1-20:17 (۞)
READING RESPONSE DUE!
Week 3
9/12 Seminar on Isaiah
1:1-31, 6:1-13 (۞)
9/14 Seminar on Psalms
13, 137 (۞)
9/16 Seminar on Job
1:1-6:30, 38:1-42:17 (۞)
READING RESPONSE DUE!
Week 4
9/19 Lecture on
HWC, 104-116, 158-176 -- see also Hellenistic Thought (۞)
9/21 Seminar on Hesiod, excerpts
from the Theogony (۞)
9/23 Seminar on Plato, “Science and Creation” (WW)
READING RESPONSE DUE!
Week 5
9/26 Seminar on Aristotle, “The Political Animal” (WW)
9/28 Seminar on Epicurus, “Maxims”
(۞)
9/30 Seminar on Cleanthes, “Hymn
to Zeus” (۞)
READING RESPONSE DUE!
Week 6
10/3 Seminar on Cicero, “Pagan Ideas of Providence” (WW)
10/5 Seminar on Ovid, “The Creation and Ages of Man” (WW)
10/7 Seminar on Plotinus, “The Descent of the Soul” (WW)
READING RESPONSE DUE!
Week 7
10/10 NO CLASS -- MIDTERM READING PERIOD
10/12 Documentation workshop in Draper 106
10/14 Bibliographic instruction in Hutchins 107
Week 8
10/17 Lecture on
HWC, 176-195, 200-205 -- see also From Jesus
to Christ: The First Christians (۞)
10/19 NO CLASS -- MOUNTAIN DAY
10/21 NO CLASS -- MEET WITH INSTRUCTOR AS NEEDED
ESSAY
#1 DUE!
Week 9
10/24 Seminar on Acts
17 (۞)
10/26 Seminar on Roman accounts of early
Christianity (۞)
10/28 Seminar on the Toledoth
Yeshu (۞)
READING RESPONSE DUE!
Week 10
10/31 Seminar on “Polycarp’s Teachings and Martyrdom” (WW)
11/2 Seminar on Tertullian, “On
Pagan Learning” (۞)
11/4 Visual culture laboratory -- details TBA
READING RESPONSE DUE!
Week 11
11/7 Seminar on Constantine I, “Laws for
Christians” (۞)
11/9 Seminar on Augustine of Hippo, “A Christian Critique of Pagan
Ethics” (WW)
11/11 Seminar on John of Damascus, “In Defense
of Icons” (۞)
READING RESPONSE DUE!
Week 12
11/14 Lecture
on HWC, 236-240, 267-301 -- see also Exploring Ancient World Cultures:
Early Islam (۞)
11/16 Seminar on The Koran, “Early Revelations” and “Jews and Christians”
(WW)
11/18 Seminar on “The First Contact of Crusaders and Turks” (WW)
READING RESPONSE DUE!
Week 13
11/21 Seminar on Usmah Ibn Munqidh, “On the Franks”
(۞)
11/23 NO CLASS -- THANKSGIVING VACATION
11/25 NO CLASS -- THANKSGIVING VACATION
Week 14
11/28 Seminar on Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, “Deliverance From Error” (handout
from instructor)
11/30 Seminar on Ibn Rushd (Averroës), “Introduction”
to On the Harmony of Religion and Philosophy (۞)
12/2 Seminar on Rūmī, 16, 53-54, 62
READING RESPONSE DUE!
Week 15
12/5 NO CLASS – MEET WITH INSTRUCTOR AS NEEDED
12/7 Review for final examination and course evaluations -- ESSAY
#2 DUE!
12/15 FINAL EXAMINATION, 10-11:50 A.M.