Course Themes

A course studying the origins of the Western tradition is more than a collection of esoteric facts about strange people from far-off lands who died a long time ago. Instead, it is an argument asserting that these peoples' thoughts, deeds, and socio-political arrangments influence the way we live today. According to this perspective, the West is less a place than a collection of ideas, practices, and institutions, many of which originated outside Europe.

Over the course of this semester, we will investigate the elements that ostensibly constitute the Western tradition. First, we will study how the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt provided the foundations of Western civilization—agriculture, cities, literacy, social hierarchy, and organized religion.

In succeeding weeks, we will look at how various peoples, including the Israelites, Greeks, Romans, and Germans have influenced the development of this civilization.

We will conclude our survey in 1600, at which point the West had foundered in crisis for three centuries. Nevertheless, this dynamic civilization had reached a point where it would successfully turn its great energies outward and change the world.