Teaching Augustine’s Confessions in the Context of Mercer’s Great Books Program

Bryan Whitfield

doi:10.3390/rel6010107

Abstract

Students in Mercer University’s Great Books program read Augustine’s Confessions in the third semester of a seven-semester sequence. Their previous reading of Greek and Roman epics and philosophical treatises as well as Biblical material equips them with a solid foundation for reading and discussing Augustine. This essay reflects on that preparation and models ways that instructors can use opening discussion questions related to those earlier readings to guide students into substantive reflection on the Confessions.

Highlights

Undergraduate students at Mercer can choose one of two ways to fulfill their general education requirements
Mercer students who are in the third semester of this sequence of Great Books are well equipped to read the bishop of Hippo when they encounter Augustine’s Confessions
The Great Books program uses these scriptures as the initial reading for this third semester of study, and students move directly from their reading of the Bible and a brief examination of creeds to two or three weeks spent reading the Confessions, usually Books 1–10

Summary

Introduction

Undergraduate students at Mercer can choose one of two ways to fulfill their general education requirements. For the balance of their general education requirements, they may elect to follow the seven-course Integrative program (a distributional scheme) or follow a seven-course Great Books sequence emphasizing foundational texts in the Western intellectual tradition. This Great Books sequence moves students sequentially from Homer, Sophocles, and Thucydides to Dostoevsky, Weber, and Camus. The faculty shaped selections for the context of Mercer’s College of Liberal Arts and the strengths of its faculty They chose complete works where possible, considering the accessibility of Religions 2015, 6 works for undergraduates as well as the way that texts might speak to each other across the curriculum. The faculty were less focused on the development of themes or a history of ideas than on choosing texts about which students could think and write as a means to a liberal education [2]

Opening Questions

The Confessions in the Context of Mercer’s Great Books Sequence

Sample Questions

Conclusions