Classical and Early Christian Studies

| English | History | Modern Languages | Mathematics/Science |
Philosophy | Classical and Early Christian Studies |
| Political Science | Politics | Theology |

Classical and Early Christian Studies

• Latin
• Greek
• Hebrew
• Classical and Early Christian Culture
  

  Iure meritoque Decessores Nostri permagni duxerunt Romani sermonis cognitionem, ut uberrimam doctrinam penitus possint qui in humanis ecclesiasticisque disciplinis versantur.
  Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, February 22nd 2006

The Classical and Early Christian Studies major focuses on two areas. First, courses encourage the student to develop his grammatical, lexical, and rhetorical command of the Greek, Latin, and– to a lesser degree–Hebrew languages. Second, classes help in forming the student's critical appreciation and understanding of the Graeco-Roman cultural world and its transformation into Christendom during the period from the Apostolic Age through Late Antiquity and into the Middle Ages.

The purpose of Classical and Early Christian Studies is manifold and of a high order, devoted as the discipline is to the three great languages on the Holy Cross that first proclaimed Our Lord as "King." The Church has always considered the study of these three ancient and biblical tongues–Latin, Greek, and Hebrew–as constituting a distinct field of special importance for the training and labors of Christian scholars as well as the formation of the lay faithful, thus serving a vital interest to the Church. Pope Paul VI made this clear when he stated that it was "impermissible" to ignore the intense study of classical languages "if there is any genuine effort to form keen intellects in the young, to train them in the humanities, to ponder deeply and reflect upon the words of the Fathers, and above all to prepare them to share fully in the ancient treasures of the liturgy" (Address to Latinists [April 26, 1968]). Likewise, Pope John Paul II noted that "the Roman Church has special obligations towards Latin, the splendid language of ancient Rome, and she must manifest them whenever the occasion presents itself" (Dominicae coenae, 3.1).

Historically, classical studies–that is, the learning of ancient languages and the reading, commenting upon, editing, and transmitting of a canon of traditional texts–was the mother and perpetual handmaiden of other disciplines in the monastic schools of early Christendom, as well as in the mediaeval universities. It is fitting, therefore, that the mater atque ancilla studiorum continue to form those who will dedicate their lives to transmission and interpretation of the liturgies and writings of the Church. Christian Classical culture extends from Homer and the Pentateuch to the most current Church pronouncements in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.

In conformity, therefore, with the express wishes of recent Pontiffs, and especially the Apostolic Constitution, Veterum Sapientia, of Bl. John XXIII, the Classical and Early Christian Studies program at Christendom College is designed to promote the rigorous study, at all levels, of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew and the works of the Fathers of the Church in their original languages as worthy in itself, and as special preparation for those engaged "in the defense of the Faith."

Normally, only students who have achieved a minimum 3.25 average GPA in lower-division Latin or Greek will be admitted to the major.

Requirements for the Classical and Early Christian Studies major:

Thirty (30) semester hours of advanced courses (301 and above) are required for the major, including the Senior Thesis (CECS 512, 3 credits) and a minimum of 21 upper-division hours of Latin and Greek language, including a minimum of six (6) hours in upper-division Latin and six (6) hours in Greek. Up to six (6) hours of Biblical Hebrew may also be credited toward the major.

A student may apply to his major up to nine (9) hours in non-language courses that explore significant aspects of Graeco-Roman or early Christian culture. Six (6) of these hours should be selected from CECS offerings. Such courses may include, but are not limited to

CECS/ENGL/HIST/THEO 300 Roman Perspectives
CECS/ENGL 321 Classical & Early Christian Literature
CECS/HIST 309 History of Ancient Greece
CECS/HIST 310 History of Ancient Rome
CECS/HIST 311 History of the Byzantine Empire
PHIL 322 Plato
PHIL 323 Aristotle
PHIL 324 Philosophy of St. Augustine
PSAE 421 The Classical Political Tradition
THEO 341 The Ante-Nicene Fathers
THEO 342 The Post-Nicene Fathers

The minor in Classical and Early Christian Studies is an attractive option for the student in another discipline who would like to ground his studies–literary, historical, theological, philosophical or otherwise–in the Classical or early Christian world. The minor requires eighteen (18) credit hours of advanced courses (301-499). Twelve (12) of these hours must be attained through a combination of Latin, Greek, or Hebrew classes; the remaining six (6) hours may be in non-language courses treating some aspect of Graeco-Roman or early Christian culture.

A course grade of at least C-minus is necessary for a course to fulfill the department's major or minor requirements.

Latin

The language of the Roman Catholic Church and of traditional Western Christendom is an indispensable discipline for the restoration of Catholic learning and of the educated lay apostolate. Two years of elementary and intermediate Latin are offered, and are obligatory for students majoring in Philosophy or Theology, and are recommended for those majoring in English, unless they have attained qualifying competence already. Students majoring in Philosophy may opt to take two years of Greek, in place of Latin. In addition, courses in Classical, Patristic, Medieval, and Scholastic Latin are available for the advanced student. All courses carry 3 semester hours unless otherwise specified. All Latin courses at the 300-level or above require the permission of the chairman and individual professor, or the simple pre-requisite of Latin 202. With the permission of the chairman and individual professor, all upper-division Latin electives may be repeated for credit.

LATN 101-102 Elementary Latin I & II An intensive introductory study of the grammar, syntax, and lexicon of the Latin language. Comparative grammar, English-Latin, will be considered. Students are expected to learn the skills of independent study. Texts will concentrate on ecclesiastical and liturgical Latin, but supplementary works will be introduced from the corpus of Classical Roman literature.

LATN 201-202 Intermediate Latin I & II Building on the foundation established in the first year, students will focus on reading comprehension and rhetorical analysis of Latin texts. Courses will focus on Cicero's works and overview the literary corpus of Christian Latin. Courses will frequently be thematic, comparing, for example, the treatments of friendship in Cicero's De amicitia with the De spirituali amicitia of St. Aelred of Rievaulx. The second semester focuses on Patristic, Thomistic, and modern Ecclesiastical Latin.

LATN 307 Latin Composition and Reading Training in written and spoken expression, emphasizing vocabulary expansion and expressive word choice. Includes rendering examples of fine English prose into Latin, rapid sight-reading, as well as rudimentary original composition and conversation.

LATN 311 The Augustan Age Advanced survey of the literature that formed the Augustan Age (1st century B.C.–1st century A.D.), including such authors as Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, Livy, and others.

LATN 312 The Imperial Age Advanced study of poets and prose writers of the first and second centuries of the Christian era, including such authors as Ovid, Seneca, Pliny, and Tacitus.

LATN/THEO 421 Patristic Latin Several Patristic authors will be examined in this course, though the focus will be on one major author to be studied in depth. The focal author and work will vary each time the course is offered. (Cross-listed in Theology)

LATN 422 Mediaeval Latin A study of the literature of the Latin Middle Ages, covering a variety of authors and periods from the fifth through the fifteenth centuries. Included are such genres as lyric poetry, Christian hymnody, historiography, hagiography, fable, and satire. Selected authors of the late Renaissance, such as Erasmus and St. Thomas More, may also be studied.

LATN/PHIL/THEO 423 Latin Readings in St. Thomas Aquinas An advanced study of scholastic Latin and an in-depth reading of selections from St. Thomas's Summa Theologiae and other treatises. The portions of the Summa studied will vary. This course may be repeated for credit. (Cross-listed in Philosophy and Theology)

LATN 490-499 Special Topics or Directed Studies in Latin Language and Literature May include such topics as Roman comedy, Latin historiography, Patristic homiletics, or other advanced study in Latin language or literature.

top of page

Greek

The great patrimony of the undivided Church from the Apostolic Age, including the original New Testament, as well as of the dramatic, philosophical and historical literature of the Classical Age, can only be fully appreciated by those conversant with classical and Koine Greek. An intensive one-year course in Attic and Koine (New Testament) Greek is available for the beginner. Additional courses in Classical and Patristic Greek are also available. All courses carry 3 semester hours unless otherwise specified. All Greek courses at the 300-level or above require the permission of the chairman and individual professor, or the simple pre-requisite of Greek 202. With the permission of the chairman and individual professor, all upper-division Greek may be repeated for credit.

GREK 201-202 Elementary Greek I & II An intensive introduction to the grammar, syntax, and lexicon of ancient Greek, both Attic and Koine, which will prepare the student for the study of the best Classical authors, the Fathers of the Greek-speaking East, and, most especially, Sacred Scripture.

GREK 301-302 Intermediate Greek I & II Building on the foundation established in the first year, students will focus on reading comprehension and rhetorical analysis of Greek texts. The sequence allows a student to refine his skills through the reading of increasingly complex Attic prose, from authors like Thucydides, Xenophon, Plato, and Demosthenes. Supplementary work from the Septuagint and other Koine texts facilitates sight translation and serves to broaden the student's knowledge of Greek literary culture and deepen his understanding of Sacred Scripture.

GREK 313 Homer Study of Homeric grammar and vocabulary in the context of reading the Iliad or the Odyssey.

GREK 314 Classical Greek Dramatists An advanced study of Attic Greek in the context of reading works of fifth- and fourth-century dramatists, such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, or Aristophanes.

GREK/THEO 425 Patristic Greek This course includes further New Testament readings, the Didache, and selections from the Greek Fathers of the first nine centuries of the Christian era. This course may be repeated for credit. (Cross-listed in Theology)

GREK 426 Advanced Readings in Greek Philosophy and Rhetoric An advanced study of the Greek of Plato and Aristotle, as well as contemporary rhetoricians, focusing on tracing the development of key philosophical concepts in Greek thought and the use of classical rhetoric in argumentation and dialectic. This course may be repeated for credit.

GREK 490-99 Special Topics or Directed Studies in Greek Language and Literature May include such topics as the Septuagint Old Testament, Thucydides, Plutarch, the Pauline Epistles, Byzantine authors, or other special study in Greek language and literature.

top of page

Hebrew

HEBR 301-302 Introductory Biblical Hebrew A combination of the classical and inductive approaches to learning the language of the Old Testament will be used. Students will be familiarized with the Hebrew alphabet, pointing system, and grammar while working with the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia text of Genesis during the first semester. The second semester will develop greater proficiency in reading the Hebrew Scriptures. Prerequisite: LATN 202 or GREK 202.

Classical and Early Christian Culture

CECS/ENGL/HIST/THEO 300 Roman Perspectives This course is the literary component of Christendom College's Junior Semester in Rome program. Masterworks from the Classical, Early Christian, and Renaissance periods of literary history relating to Rome will be read in the very surroundings from which they arose, including such works as Livy's Early History of Rome; Ovid's Metamorphoses, a virtual encyclopedia of Greco-Roman myth and one of the most influential Latin works on Western art and literature from the 1st century AD through the Renaissance; Pope St. Clement I's Epistle to the Corinthians (c. 90 AD), St. Ignatius of Antioch's Epistle to the Church of Rome (c. 110 AD), and Pope St. Gregory the Great's Life of St. Benedict, among other works of the Church Fathers; and Shakespeare's Roman plays, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, and Antony and Cleopatra, based on Plutarch's Lives. Required for all Semester-in-Rome-Program students.

CECS/HIST 309 History of Ancient Greece This course examines ancient Greek culture from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period with a special interest in the Heroic Age of Homer, the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars, Periclean Athens, and the establishment of Hellenistic order. This course is built around the reading and discussion of primary texts by writers such as Hesiod, Homer, Aeschylus, Thucydides, Isocrates, Aristotle, Xenophon, Polybius, and Philo. The course concludes with a consideration of the Hellenistic influence on the Greek Fathers of the Church. (Cross-listed in History)

CECS/HIST 310 History of Ancient Rome This course examines ancient Roman culture from its legendary origins through the Republic and Empire to the conversion of Constantine the Great with a special emphasis on the Punic Wars, the impact of thought of Cicero on western society, the reorganization of the Roman world under Augustus, provincial life in the empire, and the chief factors leading to the transformation of Roman political power in the West. This course is built around the reading and discussion of primary texts by writers such as Cato the Elder, Polybius, Cicero, Sallust, Quintillian, Tacitus, Julian the Apostate, and Eusebius. The course concludes with a reflection on history and political life by Saint Augustine. (Cross-listed in History)

CECS/HIST 311 History of the Byzantine Empire This course examines late Roman and Byzantine culture from the conversion of Constantine into the Middle Ages with a special interest in the establishment of an enduring Christian empire, the impact of the Fathers on Christian culture, the Age of Justinian, the variety of Eastern Christianity, and the confrontation between Byzantium and Islam. This course is built around the reading and discussion of primary texts by writers and works such as St. Ephrem the Syrian, Ammianus Marcellinus, Libanius, St. John Chrysostom, John Cassian, The Theodosian Code, John Lydus, Procopius, George of Pisidia, St. John Damascene, the Digenis Akritas, Anna Comnena, and Demetrius Cydones. The course concludes with a reflection on the various attempts to reunite the two halves of Christendom. (Cross-listed in History)

CECS/ENGL 321 Classical and Early Christian Literature Advanced survey of pagan and early Christian Greek and Latin literature through Late Antiquity, emphasizing the classical antecedents to later Christian and secular literature. Among the authors studied are Euripides, Seneca, Horace, Ovid, the Apostolic Fathers, Marcus Aurelius, and Prudentius. (Cross-listed in English Language and Literature)

CECS 512 Senior Seminar and Thesis Each senior Classical & Early Christian Studies student prepares his senior thesis in this course and will be required to defend it in an oral examination.

top of page