JAF291: International Seminar In Italy

Winter Break 2024-2025

Dates: December 27, 2024 - January 7, 2025

Contact: Global Education Office ([email protected])

JAF291: International Seminar in Italy (4 credits)

Location and Lodging

The JAF Winter Seminar takes advantage of Gordon College’s leased property in the cliff-top town of Orvieto, situated in the Umbrian countryside between Florence and Rome. Participants will sojourn in the recently-renovated thirteenth-century monastery that serves as the home of Gordon’s long-running semester program. The nine double rooms in the residential wing come with private baths. The library-classroom is bright and airy. Our private chef Maria takes pride in presenting the best of Umbrian cuisine.

Rhythm

Days in Orvieto with lectures and discussion and local visits will alternate with excursion days.

Included in the Cost

Round-trip airfare from Boston; all ground transportation in Italy; room and board; all entrance fees on course excursions. If needed, lodging at Gordon College after the group's return.

Application Deadline

September 30, 2024

Estimated Costs: $4,700 (includes 4 credits tuition); $35 application fee; $450 non-refundable deposit due upon acceptance; remaining $4,250 billed to student account.

COURSE DESCRIPTION FAQs APPLY

INSTRUCTOR

Thomas Albert Howard , PhD

Professor Thomas Albert (Tal) Howard (PhD, University of Virginia) is Professor of Humanities and History and holder of the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christian Ethics at Valparaiso University. He also serves as a Senior Fellow for the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts. He is the author or editor of several books, including The Faiths of Others: A History of Interreligious Dialogue (Yale University Press, 2021), The Pope and the Professor: Pius IX, Ignaz von Döllinger, and the Quandary of the Modern Age (Oxford University Press, 2017), and Remembering the Reformation: An Inquiry into the Meanings of Protestantism (Oxford University Press, 2016). His writings have appeared in academic journals, such as the Journal of the History of Ideas and the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and in more general venues such as Hedgehog Review, Wall Street Journal, Modern Age, Touchstone, Inside Higher Ed, National Interest, Christian Century, First Things, and Commonweal. He is currently working on two book projects: “Modern Christian Theology: An Intellectual History” (Princeton University Press) and “Unholy: Secularist Violence in Modern History” (Yale University Press).

Before his time at Valapaiso, Dr. Howard was a professor at Gordon for many years. He laid the foundation for the Jerusalem Athens Forum, along with this annual JAF winter seminar. Orvieto is a familiar place as he has returned to teach both the seminar and Orvieto semester classes many times.