Courses of Study - William Jewell College

Courses of Study –
The Oxbridge Honors Program
Tutorials for the Oxbridge
Major in History of Ideas
Sally Holt, Assistant Professor of Relilgion,
Coordinator of the major
OXQ 112, 212. Augustine and the Legacy of
Antiquity. 4 (2) cr. hrs.
Tutor: Rein Staal, Professor of Political Science
The Confessions and The City of God considered
in the context of Augustine’s philosophical and
religious inheritance, both pagan (Plato, Cicero,
and Plotinus) and Christian (Tertullian, Cyprian,
Ambrose, and Jerome). Students will ask why
Augustine’s views of God, human nature and destiny
have exerted such a powerful attraction
through the ages.
OXQ 115, 215, 415. A History of Job
Interpretation. 4 (2) cr. hrs.
Tutor: Milton Horne, Professor of Religion
This tutorial concerns the book of Job’s enduring
and often interpreted perspectives upon the
nature of God, humankind, and their complex
relationship to each other, especially as that relationship
is complicated by the suffering of
humankind. The book of Job is examined from
the perspectives of two major historical epochs,
pre-modern and modern. In the pre-modern
periods, essays address ancient Near Eastern,
Biblical, Hellenistic Jewish and Early Christian,
and Medieval Jewish and Christian perspectives.
In the modern periods, essays address Historicocritical,
and literary interpretations of the book.
The primary texts the tutorial treats in this tutorial
include The Sumerian Job; The Babylonian Job;
Biblical Job; The Testament of Job; Targum Job;
and J. B. (MacLeish)
OXQ 122, 222, 422. Dante and Medieval
Literature. 4 (2) cr. hrs.
Tutor: John Westlie, Professor of French
A careful reading of The Divine Comedy in the
context of its classical antecedents (Virgil’s
Aeneid) and contemporary literary and philosophical
trends. Students read selections from
the love poetry of the dolce stil nuovo and
Thomas Aquinas as well as Dante’s Vita nuova
and selections from his political writings.
OXQ 132, 232, 432. Hobbes and the Rise of
Science. 4 (2) cr. hrs.
Tutor: Randall Morris, Professor of Philosophy
An examination of the key works by Hobbes to
understand how developments in epistemology,
especially the emergence of the scientific method,
influenced his views on human nature, society,
politics, and religion.
OXQ 142, 242, 442. Modern Theologians.
4 (2) cr. hrs.
Tutor: Sally Holt, Assistant Professor of Religion
In this tutorial, students are introduced to questions
concerning the relationships that exist
between religion and the public sphere. The
works of Reinhold Niebuhr, H.R. Niebuhr and
Paul Tillich are examined in the context of the
social and historical movements of the 20th
Century. The writings of Peter Hodgson, a theologian
working in the 21st Century, provide students
with a current perspective and offer a point
of comparison and contrast with earlier thinkers.
Students will also focus on how individual theologians
have addressed the questions concerning
God and humanity by exploring the dilemma of
faith. By focusing on faith, it is possible to
explore how theologians attempt to define God
and define humanity
OXQ 151, 251, 451. Karl Marx. 4 (2) cr. hrs.
Tutor: Randall Morris, Professor of Philosophy
Introduces students to some of the central ideas
of Marx’s philosophy: human nature, alienation,
freedom, ideology, historical materialism, and the
critique of capitalism. The focus is on the writings
of the early, humanistic Marx, although students
will also examine some of the ways in
which Marx’s ideas developed, especially with
regard to his ideas on justice and morality.
OXQ 161, 261, 461. The American
Enlightenment. 4 (2) cr. hrs.
Tutor: Rein Staal, Professor of Political Science
A study of American thought in the latter half of
the 18th century, with emphasis on the fusion of
the political and philosophical in the same individuals,
who were at once statesmen and thinkers.
American texts are placed in the context of
European ones both to identify influences and to
establish contrasts.
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