READING AT THE WADE: SYLLABUS, FALL 2015

TIME AND PLACE: Saturdays, 10 - 11 a.m., meeting room, The Marion E. Wade Center, corner of Washington and Lincoln, Wheaton, IL.

TEXTS:     G. K. Chesterton.  The Man Who Was Thursday.   Penguin
      ______________.  Orthodoxy.  Moody Classics
     George MacDonald.  Phantastes.  Paternoster

DESCRIPTION:  George MacDonald’s Phantastes is the literary myth that Lewis states  “baptized his imagination” and was singularly important in bringing him to Christian conversion.  Written early in his career, it demonstrate the unique ability of Christian fantasy to explore the essential mysteries of the authentic spiritual life.

The writings of the prolific British author G. K. Chesterton were also among those that influenced C.S. Lewis’s conversion.  In Orthodoxy Chesterton presents his own provocative defense for his Christian faith, affirming its indispensable relation to Fairyland, which, he asserts “is nothing but the sunny country of common sense.”  The Man Who Was Thursday, his enduring Christian fantasy that offers a fresh and compelling vision of the presence of God and His working in the world, nicely illustrates his point.

READINGS:

September 12: Introduction and Overview

19: Phantastes, Chapters 1 - 4

26: Phantastes, Chapters 5 - 10

October 3: Phantastes, Chapters 11 - 13.

10: Phantastes, Chapters 14 - 19.

17: Phantastes, Chapters 20 - end.    

24: Orthodoxy, Chapters 1 - 4

31: Orthodoxy, Chapters 5 - 7

November 7: Orthodoxy, Chapters 8, 9.

14: The Man Who Was Thursday, Chapters 1 - 8

21:  The Man Who Was Thursday, Chapters 9 - end.

CLASSICS FOR CHRISTIANS: SYLLABUS, FALL 2015

TIME: Wednesdays 2:00 - 3:00 p.m., from September 9 - November 18.

LOCATION: The Learning Center, Windsor Park, Carol Stream.  For those coming from off-campus, the main entrance is on North Avenue, the first stoplight west of Gary Street.  The Learning Center is directly across the Centrum Lounge from the main entrance.

TEXT: Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov. Dover Thrift Edition.  Constance Garnett, trans.

DESCRIPTION: The Brothers Karamazov is Dostoevsky’s masterpiece and the quintessential Christian novel.  It is the story of three brothers, Alyosha, Dimitri, and Ivan, sons of a sensual buffoon, who in their various experiences and crises face some of the most basic questions and issues of life, and who consider the Christian responses to them.

A master story-teller and keen-thinking Christian, Dostoevsky imaginatively poses the most devastating objections to Christian thought and offers responses embodied in human experience.  To be conversant with his thought is to have one’s Christian life deepened and strengthened.

READING SCHEDULE:

Sept. 9: Introduction

16: Books I, II, p. 79

23: Book III. 1 - 11, p. 143

30: Book IV.1 - 4, p. 223

Oct. 7: Book IV.5 - VI.3, p. 296

14: Book VII - VIII.3, p. 359

21: Book VIII.4 - IX.3, p.429

28: Book IX.4 - X.4, p. 499

Nov. 4: Book X.5 - XI.6, p. 568

11: Book XI.7 -XII.5, 644

18: XII.6 - end.