JAF291: Course Description

This seminar is distinct from the year-long, on-campus JAF honors program. All students are invited to apply whether or not they have participated in the JAF program. Gordon students receive 4 credits for the Seminar by supplementing on-site study with reading and writing components completed before and after the two weeks in Italy.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

What is a Good Life? Moral Philosophy in Medieval and Renaissance Europe (Orvieto, Rome, Florence, Siena)

This course takes as its theme moral inquiry or “ethics” in the classical and Christian traditions, with a focus on their co-mingling in late medieval and early modern Europe (ca. 1200-1600). Participants will have an opportunity to read various classical authors, such as Aristotle and Cicero, and then later medieval/Renaissance authors such as Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, and Dante. Some key questions that will be explored include (but are not limited to): What is a good life? What is a good society? What is virtue and how does one acquire it? What is vice and how can one avoid it? What is the relationship between the pursuit of virtue and the pursuit of salvation? What is the relationship between individual virtue and public/social responsibility? We shall also ask to what extent medieval and early modern moral philosophy might still be relevant to church, society, and government today? In addition to readings and discussions, field trips will be taken within the city of Orvieto and to Rome, Siena, and Florence. Throughout, we shall attempt to make connections between the past and the present as well as between the writings discussed and on-site art and architecture.

This year's instructor will be Dr. Thomas Albert (Tal) Howard, from Valparaiso University. The seminar cohort will consist of half Gordon and half Valparaiso students. Dr. Howard founded the JAF international seminar when he was a professor at Gordon many years ago. Learn more about Dr. Howard here.

Prerequisite(s): Successful application into program and submission of all international program forms through the Global Education Office.

Fulfills Fine Arts core.

History major distribution: One of History of the Ancient and Classical World or History of Medieval Europe

This international seminar combines the Great Books, Socratic approach of Gordon College’s Jerusalem and Athens Forum (JAF) honors program with the emphasis of the Gordon in Orvieto semester program of experiencing art, architecture, and literature in situ-in their original settings. Readings and topics vary year to year, but are generally drawn from the late medieval, Renaissance and Reformation periods. Excursions to Rome, Florence, Siena, among other places, are typically part of the program.