Great Conversation

Some information in this department has changed since the publication of the St. Olaf College 1996-1997 Academic Catalog. Current information can be found in print or online in The Catalog Supplement for 1997-98.

The Catalog Supplement for 1997-1998: The Great Conversation

Overview

An integrated sequence of five courses taken over two years, the Great Conversation introduces students to the major epochs of Western tradition through direct encounter with significant works. Beginning with the ancient Greeks and Hebrews, the program traces the development of literary and artistic expression, philosophic thought, religious belief, and historical reflections on western culture into the modern world. Students respond to great works, challenging the ideas expressed in them and challenging their own ideas as well, thus joining the conversation of men and women through the ages about the perennial issues of human life.

The Great Conversation is open to students of all interests. This program appeals to those who like to read, discuss, and write about ideas; those who believe that learning about the past is profoundly relevant to understanding the present; those who want to examine the Western tradition in a unified way, and those who believe that an education ought to cultivate discriminating minds, inquisitive spirits, and moral sensitivity.

The three faculty members who teach the Great Conversation remain with the students through all five courses in the sequence, as fellow participants in the conversation. Besides living in the same residence hall during their first year, students in the Great Conversation enjoy eating meals together, attending films and theater, and going on field trips.

Admission to the Program

Each year the faculty of the Great Conversation choose about 65 first-year students to participate in the program. Selection is based on an essay describing the reasons for the student's interest in the program. Great Conversation brochures and application forms are sent to students after they are admitted to St. Olaf.

Course Equivalents for General Education Requirements

By successfully completing all five courses of The Great Conversation, a student fulfills the following General Education requirements:

Biblical and Theological Study (one course)
First-year Seminar (one course)
Historical Studies in Western Culture (two courses)
Artistic Studies (one course)
Literary Studies (one course)
Courses with Writing (two courses)

Courses

The following courses are offered only to first-year students and sophomores enrolled in the Great Conversation. Great Conversation students must take these courses in sequence.

Great Conversation 113 The Tradition Beginning: The Greeks and the Hebrews: This course examines the world views of the ancient Greeks and Hebrews. Through intensive reading and discussion, students explore and contrast Greek polytheism and the hero with the Hebrew notion of one God and the believer; Greek notions of civic community and earthly life with the Hebrew ideal of a religious covenant and historical destiny; Greek thoughts about beauty, war, peace, justice, politics, metaphysics, art, architecture, and drama with the prophetic stance toward the past and the future. Material includes works by Homer, Sappho, Thucydides, Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle, the artistry of the Acropolis, and the writers of the Old Testament.
Great Conversation 115 The Tradition Continuing: The Romans and the Christians (Interim): This course explores the Greek and Hebrew legacies in Roman society and in the New Testament. In discussion and writing students juxtapose the ideals and realities of Roman life and consider various attempts to find personal fulfillment in political life, in the moral attitudes of stoicism and epicureanism, and in the teachings of Christ and in their interpretation by St. Paul. Students read works by Cicero, Horace, Virgil, Epictetus, the writers of the New Testament, and study the artistry of the Pantheon and Hagia Sophia.
Great Conversation 116 The Tradition Redefined: The Medieval Synthesis: This course pursues the expansion of Christianity throughout the Roman world and the synthesis of the Judeo-Christian and the Greco-Roman in the early Middle Ages. Students consider the development of a unified world view as expressed in religious devotions, philosophy, literature, and art, and in the religious and political arrangements of monasticism and feudalism in Church and Empire. Materials include works by Augustine, Benedict, Hildegard of Bingen, Aquinas, Dante, Chaucer, and Christine de Pisan, medieval drama, and the artistry of Chartres Cathedral.
Great Conversation 217 The Tradition Renewed: New Forces of Secularization: In this course, students examine the Renaissance's return to classical values and the Reformation's return to early Christian attitudes which challenge the authority of the medieval synthesis. Students trace the development of new sources of authority including the new science with its influence on art, literature, politics, and philosophy. Materials include readings from Luther, Calvin, Descartes, Locke, Milton, Voltaire, Rousseau, Goethe, Teresa of Avila, and the artistry of Michaelangelo, Bach, and Shakespeare.
Great Conversation 218 The Tradition in Crisis: Dissenters and Defenders: This course surveys the revolutionary changes in economics, politics, philosophy, aesthetics, and women's roles at the beginning of the 19th century. In discussion and writing, students analyze the impact of Darwin, Marx, and Freud on the development of modern social and natural sciences, and consider the various attempts to restate the traditional values of the Western tradition in the face of continuing intellectual and social transformations in the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition to the thinkers listed above, the course materials are drawn from Nietzsche, Wollstonecraft, Dostoyevsky and Woolf, and the artistry of Beethoven, Ibsen, Picasso, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Faculty

The faculty of interdisciplinary programs are drawn from a variety of departments. See faculty listing under department for individual degree information.

Edmund Santurri (Director)
Professor of Religion, 1980-
Theology and ethics

David Booth
Associate Professor of Religion, 1985-
Theology, religious thought

J. Laurel Carrington
Associate Professor of History, 1988-
Renaissance, reformation

Karen Cherewatuk
Associate Professor of English, 1986-
Medieval literature

Richard DuRocher
Associate Professor of English, 1986-
Renaissance, Milton

Gerald Hoekstra
Professor of Music, 1981-
Music history