π§ π Western Re-Education
π© Tier 1 β High School Honors
π― Goal: Introduce the building blocksβvirtue, justice, law, the soul, conscience, and divine order.
π Readings:
- Plato β Apology, Crito, Gorgias, Meno, Republic (Book I, IV, VII)
- Old Testament β Genesis (Creation & Fall), Exodus 19β24 (Law), 1 Samuel 8β10 (Kingship), Ecclesiastes
- New Testament β Matthew 5β7 (Sermon on the Mount), Romans 1β8, Revelation 21β22
- Boethius β Consolation of Philosophy
- Cicero β On Duties
- Augustine β Confessions (Books IβIX)
- Luther β Freedom of a Christian, 95 Theses
- Montaigne β Essays (On Idleness, On Education, On the Art of Conversation)
- Pascal β PensΓ©es (fragments on authority, paradox, faith)
- Locke β Letter Concerning Toleration
- Rousseau β Discourse on Inequality
- Paine β Common Sense
- Freud β Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (Selections)
π¨ Tier 2 β Bachelorβs Level
π― Goal: Engage with structured philosophical systemsβethics, governance, natural law, reason, revelation.
π Readings:
- Plato β Republic (Full), Phaedo, Symposium
- Aristotle β Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, Metaphysics (Books IβIV)
- Aquinas β Summa Theologiae: On Law, On Kingship
- Augustine β City of God (Books I, V, XIX)
- Maimonides β Guide for the Perplexed (Book I selections)
- Anselm β Proslogion
- Dante β Inferno
- Machiavelli β The Prince, Discourses on Livy
- Hobbes β Leviathan (Parts I & II)
- Locke β Second Treatise of Government
- Rousseau β The Social Contract, Emile (Book I)
- Montesquieu β The Spirit of the Laws (Selections)
- Burke β Reflections on the Revolution in France
- Kierkegaard β Fear and Trembling
- Hume β Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Essays Moral and Political
- Nietzsche β Genealogy of Morals
π§ Tier 3 β Masterβs Level
π― Goal: Understand the metaphysical crises of modernity, political revolution, divine absence, and ideological warfare.
π Readings:
- Aquinas β Summa Contra Gentiles (Book IβIII)
- Scotus β Ordinatio (selections on law, divine will)
- Dionysius the Areopagite β Mystical Theology
- Ockham β Political Writings
- Descartes β Meditations
- Spinoza β Theological-Political Treatise, Ethics
- Leibniz β Discourse on Metaphysics, Monadology
- Malebranche β The Search After Truth (Selections)
- Maimonides β Guide for the Perplexed (Book II selections)
- Kant β Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
- Hegel β Philosophy of Right, Philosophy of History
- Marx β Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, German Ideology
- Engels β The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
- Maistre β Considerations on France
- Freud β Civilization and Its Discontents
- Arendt β The Human Condition
π₯ Tier 4 β Doctorate Level
π― Goal: Achieve metaphysical fluency in political theology. Interrogate consciousness, ideology, language, myth, and history.
π Readings:
- Aquinas β De Potentia, In Metaphysicam Aristotelis Commentaria
- Pseudo-Macarius β Fifty Spiritual Homilies
- Gregory of Nazianzus β Theological Orations
- Meister Eckhart β Sermons
- Philokalia β Selections from Maximus the Confessor, St. Theophan, Evagrius
- Kant β Critique of Pure Reason
- Hegel β Phenomenology of Spirit
- Heidegger β Being and Time (Parts I & II)
- Marx β Capital (Vol. 1)
- Nietzsche β Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil
- Wittgenstein β Philosophical Investigations
- Schmitt β Political Theology, The Concept of the Political
- Arendt β On Revolution, The Origins of Totalitarianism
- Jung β Answer to Job, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
- Charles Taylor β A Secular Age
π¦ Tier 5 β Postdoctoral
π― Goal: Explore comparative theology, apophatic thought, and the metaphysics of politics.
π Readings:
- Plotinus β The Enneads
- Bonaventure β The Journey of the Mind to God
- Ibn Rushd (Averroes) β Decisive Treatise
- Ibn Sina (Avicenna) β The Metaphysics of Healing
- Nicholas of Cusa β On Learned Ignorance
- Zizioulas β Being as Communion
- Simone Weil β Gravity and Grace, The Need for Roots
- Eric Voegelin β Order and History (Vol I)
- David Bentley Hart β The Experience of God
- John Milbank β Theology and Social Theory
π οΈ Exercises:
- Write a comparative essay on the logos in Heraclitus, John, and Maximus
- Sketch a theological-political map of modernity from Aquinas to Marx
- Lead a 3-person reading group through any one Tier 3 text
π« Tier 6 β Emeritus
π― Goal: Not merely to know, but to preserve, interpret, and reform.
π Readings:
- Origen β On First Principles
- Maximus the Confessor β Ambigua
- Florensky β The Pillar and Ground of the Truth
- Berdyaev β The Destiny of Man
- Levinas β Totality and Infinity
- Charles PΓ©guy β Temporal and Eternal
- Joseph Pieper β Leisure: The Basis of Culture, The Four Cardinal Virtues
- Hans Urs von Balthasar β The Glory of the Lord (Vol I)
- Girard β Violence and the Sacred, Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World
- Del Noce β The Crisis of Modernity
π οΈ Exercises:
- Draft a βLetter to the Futureβ summarizing the political-theological task of your age
- Write a 15-minute lecture addressing the crisis of meaning in a post-Christian society
- Maintain a monthly essay journal engaging a different thinker across the tradition