History

This course explores the history of ideas, attitudes, and practices regarding the unborn child in the Western tradition, with a special focus on the Christian tradition and on America as both an articulation of and a departure from that tradition. After outlining pagan, Jewish, and Christian views of unborn life in the ancient and medieval periods, the course moves to a discussion of the “new embryology” of early modernity and its unfolding in American life and thought from colonial times to the present. Because understandings of unborn life have been so often shaped by the broader social circumstances under which such life has come to be, the course also examines issues of fertility and family formation, women’s identity as mothers, the experience of abortion, and the roles of law and medicine. Catholic teaching forms a normative template throughout the course.

This course provides an in-depth exploration of the historical development of sacred music from its origins in early Christian worship to contemporary expressions of faith through music. Students will engage with significant composers, works, and styles across various Christian traditions, including Gregorian chant, medieval polyphony, Renaissance choral works, Baroque sacred music, and modern compositions. The course emphasizes the theological, liturgical, and cultural contexts that shaped sacred music, offering insights into the role of music in religious life and its continuing relevance in contemporary worship practices.

Jewish history from its beginnings down to the 20th century, including political history, religious practices and everyday life, Jewish philosophy and literature depending on interests of the instructor.

The course will survey the range of responses among Catholic laity and Church hierarchy to the crises arising from modernization in general and from the French revolution, in particular: questions of church and state, religious freedom, educational freedom, the “social question” and the rise of revolutionary atheistic socialism. Students gain an understanding of how the pillars of Catholic Social teaching (human person, common good, solidarity, and subsidiarity) developed.

This course explores the literary works and intellectual legacy of the Inklings, an informal group of writers and scholars who met in Oxford from the 1930s to the 1950s. We will focus on the core members—J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield—while also examining the broader circle of associated figures. The course emphasizes how the Inklings' friendships, discussions, and mutual critiques influenced their individual and collective literary output. By emphasizing both individual achievements and collaborative influences, students will gain insight into the power of literary fellowship and its influence and impact on members’ individual works.

This course explores the history of ideas, attitudes, and practices regarding the unborn child in the Western tradition, with a special focus on the Christian tradition and on America as both an articulation of and a departure from that tradition. After outlining pagan, Jewish, and Christian views of unborn life in the ancient and medieval periods, the course moves to a discussion of the “new embryology” of early modernity and its unfolding in American life and thought from colonial times to the present. Because understandings of unborn life have been so often shaped by the broader social circumstances under which such life has come to be, the course also examines issues of fertility and family formation, women’s identity as mothers, the experience of abortion, and the roles of law and medicine. Catholic teaching forms a normative template throughout the course.

This course examines the history of crime and punishment in America from colonial times to the dawn of the twenty-first century. It addresses changing theories of crime and punishment and their varying applications, including corporal punishment, the rise of the penitentiary, and the attempted reforms of the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The course also examines changing definitions and categorization of crime in areas such as sexual conduct, economic activity, race, and religion.

Church history and Christian thought from apostolic times to the present.