This course introduces Western culture and ideas from the ancient Near East through the twentieth century, examining the seminal events, enduring ideas, and primary sources—philosophical, theological, literary, and political—that shaped cultures across Europe, the Atlantic world, and the Americas. Central to the course is the relation of selfhood and interiority to the public sphere of human action, traced from ancient Israel and Greece through the medieval, Renaissance, Reformation, early modern, and modern periods. Through close reading, discussion, and historical analysis, students develop skills in textual analysis, historical interpretation, and the evaluation of comparative worldviews. The course fulfills the University’s Core curriculum requirement by cultivating the historical understanding essential to intellectual, moral, and civic life, situating Western culture within the Catholic intellectual tradition’s vision of human flourishing.
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