LS 151L.85: Introduction to the Humanities - Honors

University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Syllabi Course Syllabi Fall 9-1-2004 LS 151L.85: Introduction to the Humanities Honors Paul A. Dietrich University of Montana - Missoula, [email protected] Let us know how access to this document benefits you. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/syllabi Recommended Citation Dietrich, Paul A., "LS 151L.85: Introduction to the Humanities - Honors" (2004). Syllabi. 9651. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/syllabi/9651 This Syllabus is brought to you for free and open access by the Course Syllabi at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Syllabi by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LS 151.85L Introduction to the Humanities Paul A. Dietrich Office: LA 101A Phone: 243-2805 Hours: MWF 9-10 & by appointment 4 credits Fall, 2004 MWF 10:10-11:00 DHC 117 Th 11:10-12:00 (ULH 101) or 7:10-8:00 (SS 352) An introduction to the Western Humanities through an investigation of selected texts from the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, classical Greek civilization, the New Testament and early Christian literature. Topics to be considered include: conceptions of self, family, community, cosmos and the gods; ideas of virtue, wisdom, piety, justice, law, and the state; the nature of the good life, good and evil, and the meaning of suffering; the role of myth, symbol and ritual; conceptions of creation, time, and temporality; varieties of visionary experience and the poetics of change, conversion and metamorphosis; the language of love and desire; imagery of journey and pilgrimage; genres of classical and biblical literatures; idealism, realism, humanism and naturalism. A classic is a book that has never finished saying what is has to say. A classic is something that tends to relegate the concerns of the moment to the status of background noise, but at the same time this background noise is something we cannot do without. (Conversely) A classic is something that persists as a background noise even when the most incompatible momentary concerns are in control of the situation. 11 Italo Calvino 11 Course Syllabus Introduction. Creation and Covenant in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible: Genesis and Exodus Law (Torah) and Prophets: Amos, Isaiah et al. Wisdom (Writings) : Love and Suffering in the Song of Songs, Psalms, Job Greek Civilization and Homer's Epic 20,22,24 27,29,0ctl Separation, Initiation and Return in the Odyssey Songs of War, Love and Honor in Greek Lyric: 4,6,8 Archilochus, Sappho, and Pindar Midterm Exam 13 The Birth of Tragedy: Greek Drama and Sophocles' 11,15,18 Oedipus Cycle and Euripides' Medea and the Bacchae Paideia and the School of Athens: Greek Philosophy 20,22,25 and Plato's Dialogues 27,29 The New Covenant: Jesus in the Gospels (Luke) Nov.1,3,5 Paul's Letter to the Romans 8,10,12 15,17,19,22 Augustine's Confessions: The Poetics of Conversion Aug. 31, Sept.1,3 Sept.8,10 13,15,17 Nov.24-26 Nov. 29, Dec.1,3,6 8,10 14 Thanksgiving Holiday Augustine, Confessions. Time, Memory and Healing Conclusion and Review Final Exam - 8:00-10:00 Required Reading The New Oxford Annotated Bible (w/Apocrypha) (Coogan,ed.; Oxford) Homer, The Odyssey (Fagles,tr.;Penguin) Greek Lyric, (Miller, tr.;Hackett) Sophocles, Three Tragedies (Grene tr.;Chicago) Euripides, Three Plays (Roche,tr.; Norton) Plato, Five Dialogues (Grube tr.; Hackett) St. Augustine, The Confessions (Boulding tr.; Vintage) Course Requirements 1. Class meetings will be supplemented by weekly plenary lectures (attendance required). Written responses(l-2 pages) to selected lectures due Friday following lecture. (No late responses) 2. Essay (4-6 pages) responding to biblical materials due Sept. 24 on "What does it mean to be human in ancient Israel? How are understandings of the self (virtue, wisdom, piety) related to understandings of the family, the community, and the gods (justice, covenant, law)? A revised and enlarged version of your essay (6-8 pages) incorporating materials from classical Greek cvilization will be due Oct.29. The final version of the essay including material from the New Testament and the world of St. Augustine will be due Dec. 10 (8-10 pages). The final essay will thus compare and contrast the various answers to these questions from Genesis to the Confessions. 3. Prompt completion of assigned reading. Quizzes on readings as needed. 4. Grades will be based on papers and exams; however, attendance and participation will be considered in the final grade. 5. Midterm Exam (Wednesday, October 13) and Final Exam (Tuesday, December 14). "Classics are certain texts, events, images, rituals, symbols and persons (in which we acknowledge) a disclosure of a reality we cannot but name truth ... some disclosure of reality in a moment of 'recognition' which surprises, provokes, challenges, shocks, and eventually transforms us; an experience that upsets conventional opinions and expands the sense of the possible; indeed a realized experience of that which is essential, that which endures - the presence of classics in every culture is undeniable. Their memory haunts us. Their actual effects in our lives endure and await ever new appropriations, constantly new interpretations." David Tracy