Great Books, Great Minds, Great Conversations
The Great Books are great not only because they address the perennial questions confronting man through the ages, but they also speak wisely and deeply about such questions. They invite us into the great conversation about life and death, right and wrong, triumph and tragedy. It is a conversation that is often surprisingly pertinent to today’s headlines and social issues.
And the Great Books are great because they are classics. I could point you to the seven criteria of what makes a book classic in the book, but allow a comment from Dr. Louise Cowen in Invitation to the Classics, to suffice here: “Above all else this seems to me the chief value of what we call the classics: they summon us to belief. They seize our imaginations and make us commit ourselves to the self-evident, which we have forgotten how to recognize.”
The Master of Liberal Arts degree core curriculum depends heavily on the reading of classics, including scripture. The classroom experience is conversational. Students and professor alike enter the room with questions over the reading and challenge each other further with more questions and discussion. This approach encourages an intense reading of the text, critical thinking, clarity in communication, and the skill of formulating significant questions. While the program is intentionally broad-based and interdisciplinary in approach, you can focus your studies in literature, history, or philosophy. This allows you to pursue doctoral studies in these disciplines if you so choose.
The emphasis on the Great Books does not mean we are antiquarians, impractical, or aloof from present day life. On the contrary, it is the recovery of these texts that guard us from becoming slaves to the shallowness of the present, provides us with a depth of perception through history, and allows us to stand on the shoulders of the those good minds that came before. In fact, the program of study in the Master of Liberal Arts is imminently practical. A recent survey of corporate CEOs stated that the top qualities they look for in new hires are written and oral communication skills along with creative and critical thinking. The studying of these great texts will help you develop these skills as well as affecting you on higher level; the shaping your soul – the purpose of a true education.
I hope you will join us in the reading of the Great Books of Western civilization together, enter into the great conversation, and be ennobled in the quest for a greater understanding of the true, the good and the beautiful. Ultimately, the Master of Liberal Arts degree is so designed because we believe along with Desiderius Erasmus that, “All studies, philosophy, rhetoric are followed for this one object, that we may know Christ and honor him. This is the end of all learning and eloquence.”
Dr. Mike Young
Master of Liberal Arts Program Director
E-mail: myoung@faulkner.edu
Phone: (334) 386-7918 or (800) 879-9816 ext. 7918