Interdisciplinary Humanities I: The Ancient World

First Year, First Semester (9 credits = 3 courses)
This seminar explores the literature, drama, religions, history, and philosophic thought of the Ancient World. Three faculty members representing three disciplines (currently Philosophy, Literature/Drama, and Theology) attend all class sessions and actively participate in the dialogue of the seminar. Beginning with Homer and ending with the fall of the Roman Empire, the course focuses on Athens and Jerusalem in the fifth and fourth century B.C., with an intensive study of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Plato, Aristotle and The Bible. In addition, a performance component of the course allows for the dramatic interpretation of these ancient texts.

Interdisciplinary Humanities II: The Breakdown of the Old Order

First Year, Second Semester (9 credits = 3 courses)
The second semester of the Interdisc sequence is taught by faculty members from the Departments of History, Literature and Theology. It begins by focusing on the Medieval synthesis, as exemplified by feudalism, the literary works of Chaucer, and the philosophical views of St. Thomas Aquinas. The course then explores a series of revolutions in which this synthesis is systematically broken down: the Reformation; the Scientific Revolution; discovery and the colonization of the New World; Cartesianism; Absolutism; and the political revolutions in England and France. Major authors include Shakespeare, Martin Luther, Francis Bacon, Calvin, and Milton.

Interdisciplinary Humanities III: The Formation of the Contemporary World

Second Year, First Semester (6 credits = 2 courses)
The sequence's third semester explores selected topics in nineteenth century European cultural history, with an emphasis on the emergence of the social sciences as distinct intellectual disciplines. The themes of the "creative genius" and the science of culture are developed through Kant, Schiller, Hegel, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche, and through the dialectical materialism of Karl Marx. Both of these themes are paralleled in an exploration of transformations in nineteenth century religious thought and the creative arts, illustrated by the fine arts, and musical composition and performance. Finally, these two ideas are highlighted as they recur in the emerging paradigms of sociology developed by Emil Durkheim and Max Weber, and in the model of psychoanalysis advanced by Sigmund Freud.