January 1-Feburary 9, 2018: Plato
We will start the new year with a look at James Rhodes’ examination of Plato’s eros, metaxy, democratic rhetoric, Statesman, and modern interpretations of Socrates; Kirk Fitzpatrick’s analysis of music and constitutions in the Republic; Julianne Romanello’s and Pedro blas Gonzalez’s exploration of the Laws; Jon Avery’s pedagogical approach to teach the Republic; and several book reviews of such authors like Dominic Scott, J.B. Kennedy, Danielle Allen, Francis Grabowski, and Lloyd Gerson.
February 12-18, 2018: Modern Philosophy
In an interlude between themes, we will have a week of modern philosophy with articles and essays by Richard Cocks, Manfred Henningsen Robbie Young, Klaus Vondung, Abigail Rosenthal, and others.
February 19-March 11, 2018: Shakespeare
Michael L. Hays, Glenn Hughes, Stephen H. Conlin, Alain Baily, Lee Trepanier, and Andrew Moore will explore a variety of themes and plays in Shakespeare’s works, including MacBeth, Hamlet, Othello, Merchant of Venice, and King Lear.
March 12-April 1, 2018: Russian Literature
We will be featuring analyses of the works of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Solzhenitsyn this month. More details will be forthcoming.
April 2-May 13, 2018: American Literature
We will be exploring the works of authors like Hawthorne, Bellow, Roth, Percy, and others. More details will be forthcoming.
May 14-July 1, 2018: Eric Voegelin
We will start this theme with Tilo Schabert’s examination of contemporary European politics with the reunification of Germany. We then will look at Eric Voegelin in his younger years before he matured as a scholar and public figure and later at some of his most famous works, like The New Science of Politics and Order and History. More details will be forthcoming.
July 9-15, 2018: Conservatism
We will examine conservative philosophy and politics for this week. More details will be forthcoming.
July 16-August 5, 2018: Higher Education
We will explore the themes of civic education, statesmanship, political science education, and the importance and relevance of the humanities today. More details will be forthcoming.
August 6-19, 2018: Theology and Freedom
More details will be forthcoming.
August 20-29, 2018: Politics, Economics, and Philosophy
For the first week we will look at the Magna Carta, economic philosophy and policy, and conclude with a couple of essays on aesthetics and irony. The following week will consist of the 2018 EVS Program in Boston as well as other important announcements.
September 5-9, 2018: War and Society
We will have a shorten week because of the EVS conference with a review of Angelo M. Codevilla’s Advice to War and an article on Robert Nisbet.
September 10-16: Literature
We will examine the works by Mikhail Shishkin, Coetzee, Morrison, Bulgakov, and others.
September 17-23: Rousseau and America
We will review Mark Kremer’s book on Rousseau and then look at essays by Voegelin, Sandoz, and Hebert on the United States.
September 24-30: David Walsh
We will look at David Walsh’s work on the person this week.
October 1-7, 2018: Eric Voegelin as Teacher
We will look at Voegelin as a teacher in essays by Sandoz, Hollweck, and Purcell.
October 8-21: Eric Voegelin and Contemporary Philosophy
We will examine Eric Voegelin’s philosophy in relation to Strauss, Heidegger, Schelling, Kierkegaard, Kant, and Hegel.
October 22-Dec. 2, 2018: TBA
There are no themes set. More details will be forthcoming.
December 3-19, 2018: Religion
We will examine the religion at the conclusion of the year with a look at Augustine, Rome, Catholicism, Henry VIII, and other topics. We also will have our annual Christmas reading list.