Four of John Henry Newman’s Anglican sermons
Led by Tutor Emeritus and former dean at Annapolis Tom Slakey, HA’94.

Mr. Slakey’s description: “Four of Newman's Plain and Parochial Sermons, preached on Sunday afternoons at Oxford between 1825 and 1843, while Newman was a priest in the Church of England, that is, before he became a Roman Catholic: Vol I, 24, "The Religion of the Day; 2, 19, The Indwelling Spirit; 4, 21, Faith and Love; 5, 22, The Thought of God, the Stay of the Soul. The total reading is about 30 pages. All the sermons chosen are contained in John Henry Newman Selected Sermons in the paperback Classics of Western Spirituality Edition at about $25. The complete text of the Plain and Parochial Sermons, some 1700 pages, is published in one excellent hardback volume by Ignatius Press at about $50.”

While we always suggest a quick trip to your local independent bookstore, this book can also be found at Amazon.com, on this page.

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Mr. Forkin’s description: “I want to explore the naivete and potential tragedy of good intentions.”

While we always suggest a quick trip to your local independent bookstore, this book can also be found at Amazon.com, on this page.

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Ms. Barnet and Mr. Rowe’s description: “The story of the Tower of Babel appears to be about pride and pretense, for which an external authority called the "Lord" punishes humans with a profusion of languages.

But like most such stories in Scripture. this one works at different levels. At a deeper level, Babel is about the folly of trying to attain truth through an accumulation of fact. That is, it is about the limits of empiricism, which is the religion of this age.

Evidence of this abounds. The investigations of political corruption that started with Watergate have not brought less corruption, but rather more. The investigation of disease has led to more disease not less.

Somehow the accumulation of fact leads only to more fact. It leads down and not up as the builders of the Tower imagined. (Is this related to the way the pursuit of happiness through things leads only to more cravings and desires? Is it related also to the way so many feel "depressed"despite the material abundance we enjoy, if enjoy is the word?)

Empiricism is important. of course. But alone it is not enough. Fact is impotent without a governing idea.

Ours is an age of fact and concept, not idea. Jacob Needleman, the philosopher, discussed the distinction in his book The Heart of Philosophy (1982), especially the first chapter. We will explore this problem, and in particular what Needleman calls our ‘metaphysical repression’."

While we always suggest a quick trip to your local independent bookstore, this book can also be found at Amazon.com, on this page.

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Mr. Forrester’s description: “The great Baroque artist Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) often painted scenes from the Bible. Rembrandt was not only a master of color, light and shade, and paint texture, he was also a consummate story teller. In this seminar we will discuss two of Rembrandts most moving pictures: Bathsheba and The Prodigal Son. One is based upon the Old Testament and the other on the Gospels, and we will read the Biblical passages and use them to explore Rembrandt´s interpretation. While a seminar on paintings can be a challenge, I believe that the St. John´s method provides an excellent way to delve into Rembrandt´s visual drama and to discover, as S.J. Solomon said, 'The human sympathy that infuses everything touched by this most poetical of painters.'

Mr. Forrestor has provided these images:
rembrandt_bathsheba.jpg (311 KB)
rembrandt_jewish_bride.jpg (597 KB)
rembrandt_jewish_bride_detail_1001.jpg (1833 KB)
rembrandt_jewish_bride_detail_8001.jpg (1989 KB)
rembrandt_prodigal_son_etching.jpg (1088 KB)
rembrandt_return_of_the_prodigal_son.jpg (790 KB)
rembrandt_return_of_the_prodigal_son_detail_1.jpg (260 KB)
rembrandt_return_of_the_prodigal_son_detail_2.jpg (42 KB)
rembrandt_self_portrait.jpg (8905 KB)
rembrandt_self_portrait_as_prodigal_son.jpg (7932 KB)

Please read the following passages (from the King James if possible): David and Bathsheba:2 Samuel 11: 2-26, 2 Samuel 12: 1-24, Psalm 23 The Prodigal Son:Luke 15: 11-32”

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The Metaphysical Club, by Louis Menand (chapters, 3 and 8)
Led by Joseph More, A’80

Mr. More’s description: “Menand, a brilliant writer and scholar, traces the rise and fall of the peculiarly American philosophy of Pragmatism from the early 1800s through the middle of the 20th century through the intertwined lives of four great thinkers: William James, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Charles Pierce and John Dewey. Against the complex historical backdrop of the rise of science, including the use (and misuse) of statistical analysis and Darwinism, the Civil War, the labor movement, the First World War and Great Depression, Menand traces how Pragmatism was shaped by the personal relationships, triumphs and tragedies of these four men. While I highly recommend reading the entire book, for this seminar we will focus on chapters 3 ‘the Wilderness and After’ and 8 ‘the Law of Errors’."

While we always suggest a quick trip to your local independent bookstore, this book can also be found at Amazon.com, on this page.

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Mr. Poulsen’s description: “For a discussion of body, mind, and soul, I offer from the new paperback by John Brockman, What Is Your Dangerous Idea?, 10 short readings totaling 21 pages: ‘We Have No Souls’ by John Horgan, ‘The Rejection of Soul’ by Paul Bloom, ‘Francis Crick's Dangerous Idea’ by V. S. Ramachandran, ‘Life as an Agent of Energy Dispersal’ by Scott D. Sampson, ‘Brains Cannot Become Minds Without Bodies’ by Alun Anderson, ‘Mind Is a Universally Distributed Quality’ by Rudy Rucker, ‘The Self Is a Conceptual Chimera’ by John Allen Paulos, ‘the Limits of Introspection’ by Mahzarin R. Banaji, ‘Telling More Than We Can Know’ by Richard E. Nisbett, and ‘The Quick-Thinking Zombies Inside Us’ by Andy Clark.”

While we always suggest a quick trip to your local independent bookstore, this book can also be found at Amazon.com, on this page.

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Mr. Russell’s description: “Eugene Onegin is Pushkin's (relatively) short novel-in-verse about the world-weariness of youth, thwarted young love and duelling among the St Petersburg upper classes. The Russians (including Dostoevsky) consider Pushkin their greatest poet, and Eugene Onegin his masterpiece. Let's see if we can understand why they think so highly of this book. There are many versions in English, including one available free online at http://www.pushkins-poems.com/Yev001.htm (sort of awkward); a prose one by Nabokov (deadly dull); the highly readable Falen verse translation available in the Oxford World Classics paperback series; and others.”

While we always suggest a quick trip to your local independent bookstore, this book can also be found at Amazon.com, on this page.

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Mr. Saussy’s description: “In an interview with Maria Tula, Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Bobby Kennedy, once came very close to asking the opening question of the Meno. Tula is a leader of the "Mothers of the Disappeared," a group of women whose husbands and children were killed or kidnapped by death squads and government forces in El Salvador during the civil wars of the 1980s. In admiration of Tula's ability to "speak truth to power", Kennedy asked her how she got her courage and spirit to stand up for justice – was she taught it, was she born with it, was it something she practiced? or where did it come from? Tula's answer was simple: The source of her strength is rage. Kennedy was very enthralled with this answer, but one cannot help recollecting her father's reflections upon the occasion of MLK's death: what is rage without wisdom? Perhaps wisdom is what we need most of all. As Socrates ponders in the closing lines of the Meno, a teacher of virtue among human beings would be no small thing. Such a person in a world of human beings would be like the seer Tiresias in the underworld among shades: he would be a reality among shadows.”

While we always suggest a quick trip to your local independent bookstore, this book can also be found at Amazon.com, on this page.

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Ms. Schinner’s description: “I attach below the pdf of the draft constitution of Bhutan. Bhutan, which is a democratic monarchy, has introduced its first written constitution. It attempts to create an ideal state where the "Gross National Happiness" of the country shall be upheld by the state as well as by its citizens. As a Buddhist country, the constitution poses both fundamental rights and duties of its citizens, not only regarding basic laws similar to other countries but to uphold and safeguard the the spiritual and emotional well-being of all. Not only are citizens guaranteed the right to happiness, but have the duty to safeguard it for everyone else. How far can and should a state go in venturing into the spiritual, emotional and cultural lives of its citizens, and how can such laws be enforced? We will concentrate mainly on Articles 3 - 9 and 20, although I encourage people to read (or at least skim) the entire draft.” http://www.constitution.bt/draft_constitution_2nd_en.pdf

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Junior Johnny Seminar
Led by Briana Saussy, A’03, SFEC’05.

The Junior Johnny Seminar is a way for "Johnnies-In-Training" to have fun at this year's event. It promises a good time and pleanty of fun! Ms. Saussy will be reading and looking at some of Aesop's Fables and there will also be crafts making in this group. Please note on your registration if you child is interested in attending.

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