Worldview 2

Renaissance, Reformation, and Revolution

Purpose

The second year of Worldview continues with the Middle Ages, moving into 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 Worldview Two 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

• Total Truth, Pearcey

• Animal Farm, Orwell

• Communist Manifesto, Marx