CLASSICAL & EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES
Classical and Early Christian Studies has two major focuses. The first is to have the student increase his knowledge of the literature, history, and mores of Graeco-Roman civilization even as he develops his grammatical, lexical, and rhetorical command of Greek, Latin, and–to a lesser degree–Hebrew. The second is to have the student appreciate how that civilization was transformed into Christendom beginning from the Apostolic Age through late antiquity and into the Middle Ages.ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE
Great literature is the gateway to that vast range of human experience which can be expressed and shared with a countless multitude only by means of verbal language transfigured by the moral imagination. Great literature allows the serious reader to enter into the very heart and mind of man, wherein the perennial conflict between good and evil is waged.HISTORY
“Historians are the guardians of memory.” This dictum of the College’s founding president, Warren H. Carroll, aptly indicates the spirit and the purpose of the courses offered in the History Department. Dr. Carroll reminds us that cultures, like individuals, derive their identity in large measure from their memories. Historians are a civilization’s designated rememberers, those who introduce new generations to their heritage and encourage a vision that expands one’s awareness beyond his own age, and therefore makes him aware of the fundamental issues of human life and the ways in which different societies have grappled with them.MATHEMATICS
The tradition of Aristotle and St. Thomas sees that mathematics is the science of abstract quantity, a science which arises directly or by analogy from a consideration of quantity as found in the physical world, which has the fundamental property of “having part outside of part.” The two branches of mathematics, Geometry and Algebra, arise out of the observation that the parts can have common boundaries (continuous quantity) or no common boundary (discrete quantity).PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy, the “love of wisdom,” begins in wonder and ends in an organized natural knowledge of the ultimate causes of all things. It is an essentially speculative discipline, one that seeks knowledge for its own sake and not for its usefulness. It is not a means to a liberal education but, along with theology, is the very purpose and end of a liberal education. Desirable in itself, philosophy also prepares the mind for the understanding of theology, the study of God based on Divine Revelation.POLITICAL SCIENCE & ECONOMICS
It is the purpose of the Department of Political Science and Economics of Christendom College to help restore all things in Christ by educating, through the regular courses, and training, through the Politics Program, Catholic leaders in the public forum. Knowledge of the principles of a just political, social, and economic order are essential to a renewal of the temporal sphere. In line with this purpose, the College through its two required core courses in the fields of Political Theory and the Social Teachings of the Church gives the student the knowledge of classical and Catholic political and legal philosophy up to St. Thomas Aquinas, and demonstrates the deterioration of the classical natural law understanding in the major modern thinkers.THEOLOGY
This department seeks to restore and advance the scholastic discipline of Theology, the “Queen of the Sciences.” The Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian reminds us that “the object of theology is the Truth which is the living God and His plan for our salvation revealed in Jesus Christ.”(8). Every course is designed both to cover the perennial truth taught by the Church and developed by the Catholic theological tradition, and to expose the false steps which have led to widespread loss of orthodoxy in recent years. As the late Pope John Paul II stressed in his address to the Pontifical Academy of Theology, the vitality of theological study “does not lie in a relativism or historicism.”
Classical and Early Christian Studies has two major focuses. The first is to have the student increase his knowledge of the literature, history, and mores of Graeco-Roman civilization even as he develops his grammatical, lexical, and rhetorical command of Greek, Latin, and–to a lesser degree–Hebrew. The second is to have the student appreciate how that civilization was transformed into Christendom beginning from the Apostolic Age through late antiquity and into the Middle Ages.
Great literature is the gateway to that vast range of human experience which can be expressed and shared with a countless multitude only by means of verbal language transfigured by the moral imagination. Great literature allows the serious reader to enter into the very heart and mind of man, wherein the perennial conflict between good and evil is waged.
“Historians are the guardians of memory.” This dictum of the College’s founding president, Warren H. Carroll, aptly indicates the spirit and the purpose of the courses offered in the History Department. Dr. Carroll reminds us that cultures, like individuals, derive their identity in large measure from their memories. Historians are a civilization’s designated rememberers, those who introduce new generations to their heritage and encourage a vision that expands one’s awareness beyond his own age, and therefore makes him aware of the fundamental issues of human life and the ways in which different societies have grappled with them.
The tradition of Aristotle and St. Thomas sees that mathematics is the science of abstract quantity, a science which arises directly or by analogy from a consideration of quantity as found in the physical world, which has the fundamental property of “having part outside of part.” The two branches of mathematics, Geometry and Algebra, arise out of the observation that the parts can have common boundaries (continuous quantity) or no common boundary (discrete quantity).
Philosophy, the “love of wisdom,” begins in wonder and ends in an organized natural knowledge of the ultimate causes of all things. It is an essentially speculative discipline, one that seeks knowledge for its own sake and not for its usefulness. It is not a means to a liberal education but, along with theology, is the very purpose and end of a liberal education. Desirable in itself, philosophy also prepares the mind for the understanding of theology, the study of God based on Divine Revelation.
It is the purpose of the Department of Political Science and Economics of Christendom College to help restore all things in Christ by educating, through the regular courses, and training, through the Politics Program, Catholic leaders in the public forum. Knowledge of the principles of a just political, social, and economic order are essential to a renewal of the temporal sphere. In line with this purpose, the College through its two required core courses in the fields of Political Theory and the Social Teachings of the Church gives the student the knowledge of classical and Catholic political and legal philosophy up to St. Thomas Aquinas, and demonstrates the deterioration of the classical natural law understanding in the major modern thinkers.
This department seeks to restore and advance the scholastic discipline of Theology, the “Queen of the Sciences.” The Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian reminds us that “the object of theology is the Truth which is the living God and His plan for our salvation revealed in Jesus Christ.”(8). Every course is designed both to cover the perennial truth taught by the Church and developed by the Catholic theological tradition, and to expose the false steps which have led to widespread loss of orthodoxy in recent years. As the late Pope John Paul II stressed in his address to the Pontifical Academy of Theology, the vitality of theological study “does not lie in a relativism or historicism.”In addition to the Major subjects, a student may choose to Minor in the subjects below:
ECONOMICS
The purpose of the science of economics, as the famous British economist Alfred Marshall said, is to raise up the poor. This is a Christian duty, but many well meaning Christians have either no idea or merely false ideas about how to do this. Good intentions are no substitute for sound economic theory. The economics minor gives the student the full range of economic knowledge, from economic philosophy, economic history, to advanced social teachings and technical courses.LITURGICAL MUSIC
Because true education involves the domestication—not the suppression—of the soul’s raw passions, and since music touches this non-rational part of man, an education in good music is vital. Aristotle, for instance, held music to be the most important of subjects in the early education of the children of his day, “not because it is necessary, or because it is useful, but simply because it is liberal and something good in itself.” And this is precisely the definition of the liberal arts: the study of things that make us free, more human and truer to our nature, and not simply the acquisition of particular vocational skills that help in getting a job.PHYSICS
A student may obtain a minor in physics by completing 18 credit hours of 200 level or above courses in physics – three designated and two electives. The designated courses are: SCIE 204 General Physics I, SCIE 205 General Physics II, SCIE 206 General Physics III and their lab components. At least eight credits must be unique to the minor and may not be used to fulfill requirements of the student’s major. In addition the department requires all physics minors to have a competency in calculus, demonstrated by passing MATH 201 Calculus I. Courses are for 3 credit hours unless otherwise noted. A course grade of at least C-minus is necessary for a course to fulfill the department’s requirements for the minor.
The purpose of the science of economics, as the famous British economist Alfred Marshall said, is to raise up the poor. This is a Christian duty, but many well meaning Christians have either no idea or merely false ideas about how to do this. Good intentions are no substitute for sound economic theory. The economics minor gives the student the full range of economic knowledge, from economic philosophy, economic history, to advanced social teachings and technical courses.
Because true education involves the domestication—not the suppression—of the soul’s raw passions, and since music touches this non-rational part of man, an education in good music is vital. Aristotle, for instance, held music to be the most important of subjects in the early education of the children of his day, “not because it is necessary, or because it is useful, but simply because it is liberal and something good in itself.” And this is precisely the definition of the liberal arts: the study of things that make us free, more human and truer to our nature, and not simply the acquisition of particular vocational skills that help in getting a job.
A student may obtain a minor in physics by completing 18 credit hours of 200 level or above courses in physics – three designated and two electives. The designated courses are: SCIE 204 General Physics I, SCIE 205 General Physics II, SCIE 206 General Physics III and their lab components. At least eight credits must be unique to the minor and may not be used to fulfill requirements of the student’s major. In addition the department requires all physics minors to have a competency in calculus, demonstrated by passing MATH 201 Calculus I. Courses are for 3 credit hours unless otherwise noted. A course grade of at least C-minus is necessary for a course to fulfill the department’s requirements for the minor.
Did you know that only around 30% of Americans over the age of 25 have college degrees (from 2010 US Census) and that only 27% of college grads work in their field of study? This means that the overwhelming majority of people who go to college to major in one particular field end up never working in that field! Read about it in The Washington Post. Did you know that the vast majority of Christendom College graduates do not work in their field of study?Although they major in one of the following 7 areas, they work in fields totally unrelated to their fields (like 73% of other college graduates), such as medicine, business, education, IT, engineering, architecture, retail, religious education, marketing, and so much more. Did you know that employers want broadly educated new hires, rather than narrowly trained employees?
- Read more here from The Chronicle of Higher Education
- Or again, from The Chronicle of Higher Education
- Read this very insightful survey summary from the Association of American Colleges and Universities: It Takes More than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success
- See what Time magazine says about it
- Business Leaders want Liberal Arts Grads, not Business Majors
- The Leaders of Silicon Valley – Bill Gates or Steve Jobs?
Did you know that you can do just about anything with a degree in History, Theology, Classics, Philosophy, Political Science, or English Language and Literature – and do not need to go to grad school to do it (but can if you want – only 9% of Americans over 25 have a graduate degree)?
Do you agree with any of these statements? If so, studying the liberal arts at Christendom College may be right for you.
- I like so many different subjects, I want to study all of them.
- I want flexibility in my career path.
- I like learning for its own sake.
- I like to analyze—and solve—complex problems.
- I want to be successful at many things in life; not just my professional life.
- I want to make a difference in the world, and to change it for the better.