shanezomom Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 (edited) I am starting to think about how I could develop a high school class for our co-op that would be a survey of Great Books that are Christian classics. I am not equipped to go deep into the texts since I'm certainly not a literary scholar but I would like to lead the kids in encountering the ideas of Augustine, Dante, Milton, CS Lewis and others using a framework of truth, wisdom and beauty. I would want it to be relevant, cool, and get them excited (is that possible?) without diluting the material. I think it's so relatable for teenagers to see how Augustine, for example, struggled with issues these kids are or will be encountering. The co-op runs 32 weeks a year, for an hour and a half two days a week. Or I could just teach one semester or one day a week. I wouldn't want to do church doctrine because there would be Protestant and Catholic kids (if anyone signs up for the course). I would want to talk about transcendent Christian ideas in these Great Books. Do any ideas pop into your mind to help me? Edited May 18, 2017 by shanezomom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 A tangential point--there is a ton of Christianity pervading literature through about 60 years ago. I think that it often gets ignored in the way that literature is taught these days, and that that means that kids are really missing out. There is an opportunity there--to teach literature in a way that doesn't excluded its original Christian content/allusions/assumptions. Some are more over that others--"The Hammer of God" and "That Hideous Strength", for instance, are more overt than, say, "The Heart of Darkness"; but it's in there pretty much. "Anna Karenena", for example, is a tremendously Christian book. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 My dd just took a similar class at college, and one of the people they studied was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I'm not sure if they read a full biography about him or excerpts of his own writings or just excerpts of his life, but you could do a little research into it. It definitely gets into some weighty topics though which you'd have to be prepared to discuss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milknhoney Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 Pilgrim's Progress Robinson Crusoe Crime and Punishment/Brothers Karamazov Vanity Fair Ben Hur I haven't read them myself, but Faust and Ivanhoe are on my "Christian classics to read someday" list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 (edited) I agree with Carol that so much literature deals with Christian themes of forgiveness, redemption, restoration, struggle. But these books come to mind as particularly Christian or have been deemed Christian classics: Count of Monte Cristo Hinds Feet on High Places Pilgrims Progress The Mill on the Floss Screwtape Letters (so many CS Lewis to choose!) Scarlet Letter has themes dealing with Puritanism in earl America Invitation to the Classics by Cowan and Guinness gives great background material. I would also include something like Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail. Not fiction, and contemporary but it brings up current themes of justice and the Christian response. Edited May 18, 2017 by FloridaLisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 (edited) Some of these teachers guides might give you good ideas: https://classicalacademicpress.com/series/walking-to-wisdom-literature-guides/ Edited May 18, 2017 by ElizabethB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterbaby Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 Augustine, Dante, Milton, CS Lewis One of these things is not like the others. C.S. Lewis is great for teenagers; to teach that as literature he's on a level with Dante and Milton would be a disservice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finlandia Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis comes to mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizaG Posted May 19, 2017 Share Posted May 19, 2017 Have you looked at the "Christian Classics Ethereal Library" web site? It's been around for ages, and has a large selection of public domain e-texts. Here are the ones they've categorized as "classics." Of course, like all canonical lists, theirs is up for debate, but it might be helpful. :-) http://www.ccel.org/index/subject/classics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexigail Posted May 22, 2017 Share Posted May 22, 2017 Have you read Quo Vadis? It's excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeannpal Posted May 22, 2017 Share Posted May 22, 2017 One of these things is not like the others. C.S. Lewis is great for teenagers; to teach that as literature he's on a level with Dante and Milton would be a disservice. I disagree, and I am a high school English teacher. For Christian thought, C.S. Lewis is among the best out there. Books do not have to belong the realm of classical literature to be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterbaby Posted May 22, 2017 Share Posted May 22, 2017 (edited) I disagree, and I am a high school English teacher. For Christian thought, C.S. Lewis is among the best out there. Books do not have to belong the realm of classical literature to be great. "Thought" and literary artistry are not the same thing, but for that matter the ideas in the other authors mentioned are also more profound and fully developed. Lewis was an astute, sensitive popularizer. No mean feat, and an important role in the church, but not Paradise Lost either. Edited May 22, 2017 by winterbaby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaplank Posted May 28, 2017 Share Posted May 28, 2017 G. K. Chesterton' s Orthodoxy would be a great addition to the list. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaplank Posted May 28, 2017 Share Posted May 28, 2017 (edited) "Thought" and literary artistry are not the same thing, but for that matter the ideas in the other authors mentioned are also more profound and fully developed. Lewis was an astute, sensitive popularizer. No mean feat, and an important role in the church, but not Paradise Lost either. I disagree. Many people find C.S. Lewis to be quite profound with fully developed ideas. His theological treatises have become bastions of the faith for many. Edited May 28, 2017 by aaplank 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted May 28, 2017 Share Posted May 28, 2017 (edited) These are the selections from the text I plan to use with Middle Girl. The list is very Catholic-centered, but it might be useful for your project. To the Romans / St. Ignatius of Antioch Address to young men on reading Greek literature / St. Basil the Great On charity to the poor / St. John Chrysostom The Confessions (from the end of Book 8 to the end of Book 10) ; The City of God (Book 19) / St. Augustine The consolation of philosophy (Books 4 and 5) / Boethius The Proslogion / St. Anselm of Canterbury On the necessity of loving God / St. Bernard of Clairvaux Jesu dulcis memoria / Anon The ascent of the mind to God / St. Bonaventure Wisdom, beatitude and the incarnation / St. Thomas Aquinas Divine comedy: III. The Paradiso / Dante Alighieri Letter to Denis of Borgo-San Sepolcro / Francis Petrarch The ballade to our Lady / Francois Villon The parson's tale, part I / Geoffrey Chaucer Imitation of Christ (Book 2) / Thomas a Kempis Four last things: Death / St. Thomas More An exhortation to the Study of Christian philosophy / Desiderius Erasmus The interior castle (Seventh mansion) / St. Teresa of Avila The ascent of Mount Carmel (Book 1, chapters 1-13) / St. Robert Bellarmine Pensees (Selections) / Blaise Pascal Apologia pro vita sua (Part 5) / John Henry Cardinal Newman A vision of prayer / Charles Peguy On the restoration of Christian philosophy / Pope Leo XIII On the reconstruction of the social order / Pope Pius XI On the mystical body of Christ / Pope Pius XII The satin slipper (Selections) / Paul Claudel The restoration of property / Hilaire Belloc The world inside out / Gilbert Keith Chesterton The failure of liberalism / Christopher Dawson Kristin Lavransdatter: the cross / Sigrid Undset St. Thomas Aquinas / Etienne Gilson Who is my neighbor? / Jacques Maritain Medieval universalism and its present value / Etienne Gilson Edited May 28, 2017 by Violet Crown 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizaG Posted May 28, 2017 Share Posted May 28, 2017 Another resource for online texts is the Kolbe Foundation (not connected to the homeschool program, AFAIK). Their list is relatively strong in modern non-English authors, e.g. Soloviev, Sienkewicz, and Edith Stein. Not all of them are Christian, but most are. "Kolbe's Greatest Books of World Civilization" http://www.kolbefoundation.org/gbookswebsite/studentlibrary/pagenewgbooks.html The Kolbe Foundation's site is pretty heavily Catholic, while CCEL is more Protestant. Between the two, I'm sure you could find a lot of worthwhile material, including many of the works mentioned by PPs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted May 29, 2017 Share Posted May 29, 2017 Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CadenceSophia Posted May 29, 2017 Share Posted May 29, 2017 I am on the pro- C.S. Lewis side also. I believe reading whole books is so important and so often neglected for high school kids. Or at least lately in public schools. Your subset of kids might not have that problem but have you thought about teaching HOW to read a great book? You could spend the first semester reading and practicing the method from Adler's How to Read a Book and then just working through 1-2 great books in the second semester. SWB's Well-educated mind might be a good resource, although I haven't read it myself yet. Just an idea.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rose Posted May 31, 2017 Share Posted May 31, 2017 Some of Tolstoy's short stories would be a great addition. Just be careful and preread them. Not all them are "clean" even though they are good. After Tolstoy's official conversion he only wrote his short stories. They are absolute gems in my opinion. I would suggest to start: How Much Land Does a Man Need? Where Love Is, God Is What Men Live By Quench the Spark On another note Shepherd of Hermas is a good read if you want to look at any of the early Christian writings. Some of the other early Christians even included it in their lists of New Testament books (this was before the NT cannon was agreed upon). It's an allegory (sort of like Pilgrim's Progress) so it shouldn't be too hard for teenagers to handle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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