Great Books 301

Instructor: Mr. D.O. “Oliver” Woods 
E-mail: Admin@KingsWayClassicalAcademy.com
Phone: 503-658-0385

Course Description

This is an omnibus course blending world history, philosophy, literature, and theology. Coursework integrates material from the Introductory course by requiring student to read and interact with excerpts from the Great Books, most available on-line. Instructor typically selects about half of the authors from the Intro course for in-depth reading. The student approaches reading with the objective of writing a paragraph response to a set of discussion questions, which become part of the permanent portfolio. Seminar discussion with tutor or class meets daily in the online forum. 

Student selects one author per course, for which he expands his written response into a 2000 word essay. Reading assignment ranges from 35 to 50 pages every two weeks for each classical author. Although they may be taken separately, the Great Books Colloquium is usually taken concurrently with the corresponding Great Books Introduction. Supplementary Textbooks: Keys to the Classics II, Student and Teacher’s Manual and “Worldviews in Conflict” by Kevin Swanson.

With Great Books 301 we start over with a second sweep
through the history of western civilization in somewhat greater depth (15 of
100 classical authors). This course covers the period between the ancient Greek
Aeschylus and Stephen Langton, primary author of Magna Carta (1215). In this
course we focus on the ancient Greek and Roman playrights and historians and
also some of the heresies that plagued the early church. These included
Epicureanism, Stocism, and especially neo-Platonism, among others. The church
had its defenders in historians like Eusebius and Bede the Venerable, but the
first thousand years were marked by a neo-Platonic retreat from the physical
world. Christianity struggled to defend itself in the face of Muslim advances
(Song of Roland) and Nordic/pagan influences (Beowulf).

• Tuition:     $275 Premier    OR 
   Tuition:      $25 Basic
• Mode:       asynchronous 
            Mode:       Self-taught
• Offered:    Fall                            Offered:    Fall
  or Spring
• Textbook:  See
  above                 Textbook:  See above