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Great Ideas
The Study of the Great Ideas in the Great Books Great Ideas Introduction This Great Books study will be unique in that it will take a thematic rather than chronological approach. Every consideration has been made to choose what might arguably be the greatest of the Great Ideas. The books (both fiction and non-fiction), the short stories, and the poetry have all been selected to help the student explore these topics. Some may be found to be more relevant than others. The choices of literature for this course are not carved in stone. In time we hope to add studies in art and music for they are also powerful ways for expressing Great Ideas. The Study of the Ideas of God and Man To affirm or deny the existence of God carries with it more consequences for thought and action than any other question one can ask. Because of the extreme importance of this topic, no Great Books study would be complete without an exploration of it Whether you and others consider man to be the supreme being of the universe, equal to all other "things" on the earth, or subservient to a superior being, will surely shape your worldview. For example, if God does exist, you need to conclude whether He is to be feared or loved. Is He to be defied or obeyed? Is He merely a concept in your mind or is He personal? Whether you exclude or embrace a divine being will practically influence your view of man and the world around you. While we have not specifically focused on the idea of man in this course, it follows naturally that what you learn and come to believe about the questions that surround a study of God, will shape your understanding and actions related to man and the world. Keep this in mind as you study this year. Simply put the more we know of God, the more we know of ourselves and our responsibility in life and eternity. Materials Studied in Level One The Study of the Ideas of Truth and Lies Picture the scene. Freshman university students are sitting packed into a room that is obviously too small to hold the entire class. The eminent Dr. Phil O’Sophy enters and sizes up the audience. "Some of them will have to go," he muses. Without a word of introduction he turns to the blackboard and scrawls, CAN ANYTHING BE KNOWN?. He announces to the class, "I want 500 words in answer to this question by Wednesday." He walks out of the room. The students look at one another in stunned silence. Professor O’Sophy will get his wish. Half the class fails to show on Wednesday. This fictionalized account is repeated in classroom after classroom in many of our major universities every fall. But it’s not the old ploy of knocking down class size with which we are concerned here; it’s the question. The pursuit of truth is as old as man himself. Before God even creates Adam, we read, "In the beginning God…" GOD, the first person spoken of in the Bible. The very word denotes majesty; that basis for all that there is; the sustainer of all creation; or, as we read in John 14:6, the very essence of all sound knowledge. In other words God is Truth and because he is Truth, in Him can be found no Lie. Hence the inspiration for the second year of the study of the Great Ideas through the Great Books. Because God (Truth) created man, we are stamped with His image. It comes as no surprise then that man has always sought after the Truth. What makes the pursuit of Truth so difficult is that the Fall of man, precipitated in part by the Father of Lies, Satan, has resulted in our loss of perfection. We are now a deeply flawed creation – totally depraved in fact; that is, every inclination is toward sin. This has made man’s pursuit of Truth perilous and, as is his nature, has devised a veritable obstacle course on which to run this race. For many, to speak the truth is to merely say what we think or believe. Conversely, to lie is to say the opposite of what we think or believe. As commendable as it may be to "tell the truth" in this sense, this definition does not satisfy at least one aspect of the Ideas of Truth and Lies. For example, someone may say what they think or believe and be entirely in error because their beliefs are based on falsehoods. Therefore, a study of Truth and Lies must be more than learning to tell the truth as we know it. It must get to the heart of the age old questions: What ultimately is true? and How do we know Truth? Materials Studied in Level Two The Study of the Ideas of Good and Evil "I am the Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." Rev. 22:13 …so sums up our study over the last two years of the ideas of God, Man, Truth, and Lies. But, what about the ideas of Good and Evil? We run into these words almost every day and across many disciplines. One can hardly consider studies in theology, ethics, psychology, politics, or art (just to name a few), without wrestling with questions about the existence and manifestation of Good and Evil. To be sure, what we come to believe about Good and Evil will have a bearing on how we relate to truth and falsity; beauty and ugliness. Mortimer Adler sates, "The true is the good of our thinking and the beautiful is a quality that certain things have when they are good as objects of contemplation, love, or as production." While we might quibble with Adler’s ideas of truth, goodness, and beauty, we should agree that we can better understand goodness and beauty in terms of truth, and truth and goodness in terms of beauty. While they can be considered separately, they are best understood in relation to one another. You will recall that one of the primary aims of the study of the Great Ideas through the Great Books is to contemplate what is True, what is Good, and what is Beautiful. As you have probably predicted, our view of Good and Evil will be rooted in our concept of God and Man. The psalmist writes, "Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!" (Psalm 136:1) This goodness of God expressed in this psalm is reiterated throughout Scripture. It is multi-faceted and speaks of God’s sovereign redemptive love; His kindness and generosity to all His creatures; His pity to those in distress; His patience. On the other hand if, like Protagorus, a person sees "man as the measure of all things", Good and Evil are not rooted in the character of a Supreme Being who has created man in His own image. These ideas then become, in the words of Montaigne, "in large part the opinion we have of them". Like Shakespeare’s Hamlet we are free then to determine for ourselves what, if anything, is evil. So the stage has been set and through the ages thinkers of all stripes have debated the existence, source, and effect of Good and Evil on our world. Some have sought the right application of Good for their own benefit; others for the Common Good of society; and the rest, the Greatest Good for the greatest number. Few have actually sought what they considered to be Evil. However, all, in one form or another, have had to decide on answer to key questions: Is there a God? If so, who is He? What is He like? What does He require of me? Does Truth exist? If so, how do I apply it to all areas of my life? They also probably wrestled with the same questions that you will tackle this year: Does Good and Evil exist? If so, what are their attributes? How do they affect my perception of the world? My actions? How am I to seek Good? What conflicts arise as I seek to do this? Congratulations! You’re quite astute if this has occurred to you at any time while you’ve been reading this introduction. (That’s the good news.) The better news is that you will, no doubt, re-visit many of the questions and ideas already studied and begin to explore their interconnectedness with this years’ ideas of Good and Evil. Welcome to the Great Conversation! Uncle Screwtape will not be happy. Materials Studied in Level Three The Study of the Ideas of Beauty and Ethics Beauty "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." It would seem that a nodding agreement to this old maxim would bring an end to our study post haste. Why? Well, inherent in this statement is the assumption that little or no criteria beyond personal taste can be advanced in determining what is or is not beautiful. If it is true that what is beautiful for you may not be beautiful for me, it would seem that the postmodernists may have won the day after all. If we are free to create our own meaning of beauty, independent of all else, than maybe we can indeed do the same for truth, goodness, or any of the Great Ideas. Ethics Simply stated ethics is the study of right and wrong. In any study of ethics you will learn to make judgements concerning the way you will choose to live. It is also here that you will determine what motivates you to live as you do. To illustrate this, let us consider a small child. Early on this child may learn whether stealing is either right or wrong. Usually he will accept this teaching without question. However, the day soon arrives when that child will need to choose how he will live. Using our example, he must ask himself, "Will I steal or not?" Not only that but he also must consider his reason for the decision he makes. Materials Studied in Level Four
The ideas have been divided into four categories: each idea or groups of related ideas are studies in one academic year. The plan is as follows:
Why these ideas? First of all it is in God that we live and move and have our being. Everything begins and ends with him. To deny God is to deny our entire existence. Therefore, we must first and foremost come to an understanding of what we believe about God. Ultimately this will shape and determine how we perceive Truth. Truth gives us a basis for determining Good and Evil. Together they shape our understanding of what is Beautiful and how to live Ethically.
Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, singly and together, have been seen by many as the heart of the age old controversy concerning such topics as the absolute and the relative; the objective and the subjective; the universal and the individual. In a postmodern culture a right understanding of these three ideas is foundational to living Godly lives in this present age. It is hoped that the student’s life will be enriched by these studies and he will be better equipped to be a biblical agent of change in our culture.
As you work through the material in this course, you will consider the views of a variety of authors who lived in a variety of cultures at different times in history. Your conclusion to the primary question of God’s existence as well as issues that naturally follow: the question of divine nature and the relation of the world/man to the gods/God will profoundly influence your conception of the world in which you live, the position you occupy in it, and the life to which you are called.
"Man is the measure of all things." Petagorus
"I am the way, the truth, and the life." John 14:6a
"You will not surely die." Satan (Gen. 3:4)
"Hey, wait a minute!" you might be saying. "Haven’t I already dealt with many of these questions in the books, poems, and stories that I’ve read over the last two years?"
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