Honors Program

The ideals of Parent, Prophet, King, Lawgiver, Hero/ine, Poet, Philosopher and Statesman are examined in this course. The reading list includes: Genesis; Exodus; Esther; The Iliad: Herodotus, The Histories; Plato, The Republic; Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War; plays by Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes; Aristotle, Poetics. Prerequisite: Admission to the Honors Program.

The ideals of Founder, Patrician, Soldier, Martyr, Bishop, Monk, Knight, Lady, Friar and Scholar are examined in this course. The reading list includes: Virgil, Aeneid; Cicero, On Duties; Plutarch, Lives; Juvenal, 16 Satires; Luke; Acts; Ignatius, Letter to the Romans; Acta of Felicity, Perpetua, and others; Athanasius, Life of Anthony; Augustine, Confessions; Ambrose, Letters; The Rule of St. Benedict; The Song of Roland; von Strassburg, Tristan and Isolt; The Holy Grail; The Letters of Heloise and Abelard; Aquinas, On Kingship; from Lives of St. Francis. Prerequisite: HNRS 1391.

The ideals of Monarch, Scientist, Reformer, Missionary, Explorer, Artist and Mystic are examined in this course. The reading list includes: Chaucer, Canterbury Tales; Dante, Divine Comedy; Catherine of Siena, Dialogue; Joinville, Life of St. Louis; Pisan, City of Ladies; Machiavelli, The Prince; More, Utopia; Galileo, Dialogues; Copernicus, On Revolutions; Loyola, Spiritual Exercises; Luther, The Freedom of a Christian; Shakespeare, The Tempest; Da Vinci, from Notebooks; Cortes, Letters from Mexico; Columbus, Four Voyages to the New World; de las Casas, In Defense of the Indians; Milton, Paradise Lost. Prerequisite: HNRS 1392.

The ideals of Revolutionary, Philosopher, Diplomat, Bluestocking, Pioneer/Entrepreneur, Gentleman, Social Scientist, Existential Hero and Worker are examined in this course. The reading list includes: Newton, from Principia; Descartes, Meditations; Rousseau, Confessions; Franklin, Autobiography; Tocqueville, Democracy in America; Smith, Wealth of Nations; Marx, Communist Manifesto; Darwin, The Origin of the Species; Newman, Idea of a University; Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents; Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols; Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South; Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass; Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum. Prerequisite: HNRS 2391.

This course makes the vital connection between the “life of the mind” and the “business of life.” Grounded in the concept of “Christian work” or “reflective practical action,” this course presents an analysis and reflection on the different dimensions of service in our current world.

Project With faculty direction, each student designs and pursues a research project in keeping with the goals and methods of the major discipline. The student is expected to prepare a research proposal and budget for approval by the Honors Committee in the semester previous to that in which the research is done. The results of the research are presented by the student in a university forum or scholarly conference. Prerequisites: HNRS 1391, 1392, 2391, 2392.

An interdisciplinary seminar which treats a significant topic of interest to the students. The students who will be taking the class are expected to prepare a course proposal or alternative proposals for approval by the Honors Council. Faculty director is selected and a syllabus developed on the basis of the approved proposal. Prerequisites: HNRS 1391, 1392, 2391, 2392, 3391, 4394.