Contemporary Contexts: Modernity and the Search for Meaning
Program Overview
Explore the recurring questions of the past as you survey and consider the present and the future in the Contemporary Contexts Honors Program. Study the questions and circumstances surrounding the Reformation, the Enlightenment, Romanticism and two World Wars to learn more about the tough questions we face today. Call upon theology, philosophy, literature, the arts and politics to delve into the Western search for meaning as it has evolved throughout the course of modernity. Consider questions like: What does it mean to be rational? What does it mean to be social? What does it mean to be free?
Procedures:
Begin Contemporary Contexts in the fall semester with a pre-seminar, and plunge into honors coursework in the spring. During the honors program, experience major modern cultural and political centers through weekend trips to Boston and New York City. Travel to Vienna for three weeks in May to consider the clash of the old and new as the West rushed toward tragedy. Finish the program with a culminating course in the fall of your second year.
Credits:
All of the disciplinary courses (philosophy, literature, history and theology) are four-hour courses and carry integrative studies credit. The honors curriculum totals sixteen hours of credit.
