Purpose

The second year of World View covers the periods of the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Revolutionary Era (c. 1200-1800). Students focus on the primary works that shaped these periods and their impact on the formation of the Western Mind and American government. Class discussions will aim at moving beyond the details of the texts to their cultural implications.

This is a 4-credit course: English, Medieval Literature, American History, Philosophy ½, and Government ½.

Process

Course work includes extensive syllabus note taking, six short papers, a major research paper on the Declaration of Independence, class debates, and impromptu writing assignments.

The books studied in World View II include, but are not limited to:

• The Divine Comedy, Dante

• Canterbury Tales, Chaucer

• Le Morte d’ Arthur, Malory

• How Should We Then Live, Schaeffer

• Paradise Lost, Milton

• Institutes, Calvin

• Pilgrim’s Progress, Bunyan

• Second Treatise of Government, Locke

• Federalist Papers

• Democracy in America, de Tocqueville

• Tale of Two Cities, Dickens

• The Soul of Science, Pearcey & Thaxton

• Total Truth, Pearcey

• Animal Farm, Orwell

• Communist Manifesto, Marx