Level: Form III (7th–9th grades), Form IV (10th–12th grades)
Subject(s): English, History, Literature, Logic, Philosophy, Theology
Description:
In this tuition-free class led by Dr. Gary Hartenburg, students will develop critical thinking, listening, and discussion skills as they grapple with foundational questions of faith and existence. Students will read and discuss a variety of classic literature along with selected works of the writers known as the Inklings, especially C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, as well as similar-minded contemporaries such as Dorothy Sayers and G. K. Chesterton. Students will be expected to complete reading assignments in preparation for class, and there may be optional writing assignments.
For 2022–23, the focus will be on the Inklings and the Modern Age with a spring semester emphasis on American government and literature.
Materials:
Families purchase the following required supplies: (Unless otherwise indicated, the listed ISBNs are required, and each sibling needs their own copy. Used books are fine as long as the ISBN matches. Some books will be used again throughout the Intro to Inklings/Inklings & Classics class cycles, and siblings in different classes may share copies.)
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Ecclesiastes, The Gospel of Luke, Proverbs, any Bible translation (not a paraphrase), NKJV preferred
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Blaise Pascal, Pensees ISBN: 0140446451
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G.K. Chesteron, The Man Who Was Thursday ISBN: 0141191465
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C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce ISBN: 0060652950
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C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man ISBN: 9780060652944
- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Tolkien Reader ISBN: 0345345061 (Note: This book is required for both Intro to Inklings as well as Inklings & Classics classes; siblings may share a copy across classes, though it would be best for each sibling in the same class to have their own copy during class discussion.)
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The Essential Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers ISBN: 0872206556
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Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass ISBN: 074348777X (Note: This book is required for both Intro to Inklings as well as Inklings & Classics classes; siblings may share a copy across classes, though it would be best for each sibling in the same class to have their own copy during class discussion.)
- Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun ISBN: 0679755330
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Flannery O’Connor, The Complete Stories ISBN: 0374515360
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T. S. Eliot, Collected Poems: 1909–1962 ISBN: 9780571105489
- Three-ring binder with lined paper, pens, pencils, and erasers in a pencil pouch
BHSC will provide print-outs of the following:
- David Hume, Of the Standard of Taste
- John Wesley, selection(s)
- Willa Cather, “A Wagner Matinee”
