Subjects: Classical literature

Over the course of the three lessons, students focus on four questions: What makes Aeneas a distinctly Roman hero? What was Virgil’s purpose behind writing the epic? What debt does Virgil owe to Homer? How does Virgil betray his own ambivalence in this epic vision, which both celebrates Rome’s greatness and measures its staggering cost? The classes focus particularly on Books II (The Fall of Troy), IV (The Tragedy of Dido), and VI (The Symbolic Death and Resurrection of the Hero). Featured interviews: Professor Maynard Mack (Yale University), editor for the Norton Anthology of Classical Literature, and Professor A. D. Nuttall (New College-Oxford)

Lesson 1 examines the creation stories of Chapters 1 and 2, with special emphasis on their differences of language and style, the concept of “deity”, the purpose of the text, and the significance of being “made in the image of God”. The discussion of Chapter 3 focuses on the enduring vitality of the Adam and Eve story and the Myth of the Fall. Do Adam and Eve assert their basic human dignity in their defiance? What does it mean to be fully human according to the Adam and Eve myth? Why should the gaining of knowledge/experience and the loss of innocence/simplicity require a connection with Sin, Error, and Pain? Featured interview: Dr. Wil Gaylin, author of Adam and Eve and Pinocchio: On Being and Becoming Human

When innocent people suffer difficult circumstances, does that deny the concept of a just God? Discussion focuses on the knotty philosophical question of theodicy and on Job’s personal evolution from despair to faith. How does orthodoxy, in whatever form, keep one from an authentic pursuit of meaning? Featured interviews: Rabbi Harold Kushner, the author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People, and Professor David Clines (University of Sheffield), who authored a critical text on the Book of Job

Discussion in these two lessons focuses on the nature of epics, the tragedy of Achilles, the nature of the Homeric hero, the relation between humans and gods, and the nature of honor as a motivating principle. Discussion also explores the Iliad as both a celebration of and a protest against war.

Discussion in these two lessons focuses on the nature of epics, the tragedy of Achilles, the nature of the Homeric hero, the relation between humans and gods, and the nature of honor as a motivating principle. Discussion also explores the Iliad as both a celebration of and a protest against war.

The range of discussion topics in this lesson includes the nature of tragedy, the concept of “moira” (fate) vs. “tuche” (chance), the religious conservatism practiced by Sophocles, and some general speculations about human nature. What besides his own destruction does Oedipus gain? What does it mean to be human? How should one live? Does Oedipus suffer justly? Is the play a celebration of the tragic hero?

Antigone sparks a debate on the subject of duty: Is a citizen’s first duty is to the law of the state or to the law of religion? Who is the tragic protagonist of the play? Who “owns” the tragedy? Are Creon and Antigone equally right and equally wrong? Does Sophocles favor one over the other? The lesson turns to a discussion on how the play might have contemporary applications. Featured interview: Justice Seymour Simon, Former Justice of the Illinois State Supreme Court

Over the course of the three lessons, students focus on four questions: What makes Aeneas a distinctly Roman hero? What was Virgil’s purpose behind writing the epic? What debt does Virgil owe to Homer? How does Virgil betray his own ambivalence in this epic vision, which both celebrates Rome’s greatness and measures its staggering cost? The classes focus particularly on Books II (The Fall of Troy), IV (The Tragedy of Dido), and VI (The Symbolic Death and Resurrection of the Hero). Featured interviews: Professor Maynard Mack (Yale University), editor for the Norton Anthology of Classical Literature, and Professor A. D. Nuttall (New College-Oxford)