(Freshman Year, fall and spring semesters, 1 credit each)
Pope Saint John Paul II placed the question of the nature of the human person at the center of his philosophical and theological work. If we “get the human person right,” with all of the theological and philosophical consequences that flow from it, we are on the right path toward true wisdom and flourishing, both now and in eternity. If we make fundamental errors in our understanding of the human person, our lives (including our relation to God), our families, our societies, and our political orders will dissolve into mediocrity, farce, or tragedy.
As an introduction to both a dialogical pedagogy and the fundamental questions that animate the college’s Program of Studies, freshmen gather each week for a small seminar to discuss texts that have been central to the curriculum for decades. These texts introduce questions about the nature of the human person and human flourishing, political life, the interior life, human suffering, the role of religion in our lives, leisure and culture, and the challenging gift of human freedom.
