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TTC Augustine's Confessions?


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Thanks to the Hive for recommending Elizabeth Vandiver's TTC lectures. My ds has thoroughly enjoyed listening to her lectures on the Iliad, Odyssey, and the Aenid this year. This was a surprise to me as he is my math/science guy, and this was his first foray into ancient lit.

 

We will be tackling Augustine's Confessions in a month or so, and I noticed that there is a lecture series on the book. I am not familiar with the professors--William Cook and Ronald Herzman. I also noticed that the rating state that 79% would recommend the series to a friend. I don't know if that's a high rating or not.

 

I'd trust Hive reviewers more than random people. Has anyone here listened to this series or have had your kids listen to it? If so, do you recommend it? I am specifically wondering if it approaches Confessions as primarily literature or if it also talks about spiritual applications? We're Christian, so I'm just wondering if the lectures contain any kind of obvious biases?

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Thanks to the Hive for recommending Elizabeth Vandiver's TTC lectures. My ds has thoroughly enjoyed listening to her lectures on the Iliad, Odyssey, and the Aenid this year. This was a surprise to me as he is my math/science guy, and this was his first foray into ancient lit.

 

We will be tackling Augustine's Confessions in a month or so, and I noticed that there is a lecture series on the book. I am not familiar with the professors--William Cook and Ronald Herzman. I also noticed that the rating state that 79% would recommend the series to a friend. I don't know if that's a high rating or not.

 

I'd trust Hive reviewers more than random people. Has anyone here listened to this series or have had your kids listen to it? If so, do you recommend it? I am specifically wondering if it approaches Confessions as primarily literature or if it also talks about spiritual applications? We're Christian, so I'm just wondering if the lectures contain any kind of obvious biases?

 

I love the duo and thoroughly enjoyed the Augustine lectures. (love the Divine Comedy ones as well!) ETA: They talk about his conversion and heresies, etc.

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Thank you, everyone! I really appreciate the feedback.

 

I didn't notice that the Divine Comedy series featured the same two profs. Thanks for pointing that out! I have been tempted to get that series as well, but we have the Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition series, which includes 2 lectures on Dante. We also have the VP Omnibus commentary. I know those won't be as in depth, but I'm wondering if we'll have the time for the stand alone course. So many TTC courses, so little time!

 

How long did your kiddos take to watch the Divine Comedy lectures and read the entire work?

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I had my son listen to Augustine near the beginning of 10th grade, when he came up in the "Heroes of History" book he was going through. I thought it was a good step up in my son realizing how detailed one can examine one's own faith and thinking. My son seemed to get that, and he did like the series, if that helps.

 

Oh, and he listened to one lecture a day, so it probably took a dozen days?

 

He was able to just listen to the series without reading Confessions. Not sure if that would be possible (or useful) with the Divine Comedy series?

 

Julie

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Thanks, Julie. I'm encouraged to hear that your son enjoyed it! I thought Confessions was 24 lectures....? In any case, I think Confessions is definitely doable this year as the book is very readable (I'm reading through it myself right now), so I think we could get it done in a month, even with the TTC lectures.

 

On the other hand, the Divine Comedy also contains 24 lectures, but the reading covers 1,200+ pages...yikes! (Confessions is about 1/3 the length.) I've seen literature courses take a quarter just to cover Divine Comedy, so if I add the lectures that will be a huge chunk of our school year...and we have a lot of other books on our list.

 

Decisions, decisions... :001_smile:

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Thank you, everyone! I really appreciate the feedback.

 

I didn't notice that the Divine Comedy series featured the same two profs. Thanks for pointing that out! I have been tempted to get that series as well, but we have the Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition series, which includes 2 lectures on Dante. We also have the VP Omnibus commentary. I know those won't be as in depth, but I'm wondering if we'll have the time for the stand alone course. So many TTC courses, so little time!

 

How long did your kiddos take to watch the Divine Comedy lectures and read the entire work?

 

 

Admittedly we only did Inferno. Regarding how much time this took, I honestly do not remember. The years go by and my memory fails on things like this.

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Jane, that might be an idea...maybe we could just do Inferno first and see how it goes. If he likes it enough to invest time reading the other two parts, we can scratch something else off the list.

 

I know that my son read more of the Divine Comedy in the summer following our studies.

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Thanks, Julie. I'm encouraged to hear that your son enjoyed it! I thought Confessions was 24 lectures....? In any case, I think Confessions is definitely doable this year as the book is very readable (I'm reading through it myself right now), so I think we could get it done in a month, even with the TTC lectures.

Okay, serves me right for not looking at the set... :banghead:

 

It was "Augustine: Philospher and Saint," and it had only about 3 lectures on the Confessions :blushing:

But he liked it LOL!

 

Most TTC lectures he's watched have been one lecture per day.

Julie

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Admittedly we only did Inferno. Regarding how much time this took, I honestly do not remember. The years go by and my memory fails on things like this.

 

Did they not guilt you into reading the entire thing?? :p

 

Jane, that might be an idea...maybe we could just do Inferno first and see how it goes. If he likes it enough to invest time reading the other two parts, we can scratch something else off the list.

 

I listened to the entire Divine Comedy series this summer and they did guilt me into approaching it in its entirety vs just reading Inferno!! ;) We are finishing up Paradise Lost and will be moving on to DC next. If we don't finish it this yr, we will start with it in the fall.

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Thanks, Julie. I'm encouraged to hear that your son enjoyed it! I thought Confessions was 24 lectures....? In any case, I think Confessions is definitely doable this year as the book is very readable (I'm reading through it myself right now), so I think we could get it done in a month, even with the TTC lectures.

 

On the other hand, the Divine Comedy also contains 24 lectures, but the reading covers 1,200+ pages...yikes! (Confessions is about 1/3 the length.) I've seen literature courses take a quarter just to cover Divine Comedy, so if I add the lectures that will be a huge chunk of our school year...and we have a lot of other books on our list.

 

Decisions, decisions... :001_smile:

Admittedly we only did Inferno. Regarding how much time this took, I honestly do not remember. The years go by and my memory fails on things like this.

Did they not guilt you into reading the entire thing?? :p

 

 

 

I listened to the entire Divine Comedy series this summer and they did guilt me into approaching it in its entirety vs just reading Inferno!! ;) We are finishing up Paradise Lost and will be moving on to DC next. If we don't finish it this yr, we will start with it in the fall.

 

8Filtheheart, I think you maybe the only person to have read the whole Comedia! :D As far as I can tell, most folks just read Inferno. Tapestry says that they are reworking to reading the whole thing, but it is rare.

 

I listened to the lectures on the Comedia, and although I wanted to read the full thing, I did not. I suppose you could say that I paid my penance because I did buy the whole thing, just didn't read it. I'm afraid I did the same thing with Paradise Lost after reading Lewis's Introduction.

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8Filtheheart, I think you maybe the only person to have read the whole Comedia! :D As far as I can tell, most folks just read Inferno. Tapestry says that they are reworking to reading the whole thing, but it is rare.

 

I listened to the lectures on the Comedia, and although I wanted to read the full thing, I did not. I suppose you could say that I paid my penance because I did buy the whole thing, just didn't read it. I'm afraid I did the same thing with Paradise Lost after reading Lewis's Introduction.

 

 

We just finished the whole Divine Comedy and thoroughly enjoyed it. The TTC lectures were a very helpful addition. We loved the TTC lectures for Confessions earlier this year and are currently using the lectures which accompany Milton and Paradise Lost. Highly recommend all!

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Thanks, everyone, for the continued reviews and insights. Nancy...please do not mention ANY OTHER books! My TTC addiction is already spiraling out of control, and I am trying to tame it! :001_smile: ha ha!

 

Another question...do most of you read the chapter and then listen to the corresponding lecture or vice versa? For the Homer epics, I scheduled the book chapters first and then the lecture. It seemed to work fine, but a few chapters into the Aenid, my son said that it might be helpful to listen to the lecture first. I switched the scheduling around, and he said it worked out much better.

 

For Confessions, I'm thinking it might be better for him to grapple with it first and then listen to the lecture afterward. What do you all think?

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Thanks, everyone, for the continued reviews and insights. Nancy...please do not mention ANY OTHER books! My TTC addiction is already spiraling out of control, and I am trying to tame it! :001_smile: ha ha!

 

Another question...do most of you read the chapter and then listen to the corresponding lecture or vice versa? For the Homer epics, I scheduled the book chapters first and then the lecture. It seemed to work fine, but a few chapters into the Aenid, my son said that it might be helpful to listen to the lecture first. I switched the scheduling around, and he said it worked out much better.

 

For Confessions, I'm thinking it might be better for him to grapple with it first and then listen to the lecture afterward. What do you all think?

 

 

I solemnly swear not to mention any other fantastic TTC lectures (in this thread, at least :-) ) Personally, we prefer listening to the lectures after reading, in general. It helps to tie it all together after we have had a chance to "grapple with it," as you say.

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