OPPORTUNITY ALERT! Aquinas Institute – Courses begin 14 September

Truly AWESOME new complete set of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica. They are doing his entire body of work in beautiful volumes. CLICK

Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, a board member of the Aquinas Institute— the folks who are publishing, for the first time, the Opera Omnia of St. Thomas Aquinas in parallel Latin & English, in some 60 blue hardcover volumes — sent me notice of important things afoot to share with readers.

This is quite interesting.  And I will draw your attention especially to the end of Peter’s summary!   And if you haven’t seen the new, blue volumes of Aquinas… wow.  Just… wow.  For just the Summa US HERE – UK HERE

Peter wrote:

 

The Aquinas Institute is now launching Online Discussion Classes, at two levels:

• An undergraduate Liberal Arts Curriculum consisting of 12 accredited courses in humanities, philosophy, and theology. This is for students ready to do college-level work, students already enrolled in state universities looking for a way to fulfill general education requirements with worthwhile courses taught by orthodox Catholics; or folks of any age who want to fill in gaps in their own education. Courses begin the week of September 21st.
• A Graduate Theology Curriculum, also consisting of 12 integrated courses, equivalent to an MA in theology. We are hoping that adults looking for a more serious engagement with theology, including priests, religious, catechists, schoolteachers, and parents, will check out this program; there is nothing like it anywhere in the USA. Courses begin the week of September 14th and may be taken one by one or in combination.

Both programs are built on two principles:

• Great Books or primary sources: we read authors like Plato and Aristotle for philosophy, Augustine and Aquinas for theology, Dante and Shakespeare for humanities.
• Discussion: the classes are not lectures but conversations guided by experienced professors. The faculty for Fall 2020 hail from Wyoming Catholic College, the International Theological Institute, Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, and Baylor University.

The cost is comparable to similar online programs, and scholarships are available.

The first three Liberal Arts courses will be:

• Gods and Heroes in Ancient Greece, with Dr. Jason Baxter;
• Tools of Philosophy, with Jacob Terneus;
• Salvation History I, with Dr. Vincent DeMeo

The first three Graduate Theology courses will be:

• The Book of Job, with Dr. Nathan Schmiedecke
• Existence and Attributes of God, with Dr. John Mortensen
• Church Fathers I, with Dr. Michael Foley

These courses, these books, these teachers—ah, to be a student once again! I strongly urge you to check out the Aquinas Institute website and these academic offerings. Let other people know about it, too—anyone you’ve heard express an interest in continuing their education, or who wishes to supplement a secular program, or wants to make up for gaps in the formation they received at other institutions in the past (just think of what most clergy get in their seminaries… shudder).

Yes, I can attest to the horror show that was seminary in my day.  My time in seminary in these USA was among the most miserable of my life.  My Roman seminary days were marked mostly by the tension of learning Italian while studying in Italian and also realizing the mediocrity of the offerings.

These are different days.   None of this sort of thing was an option back in the day.