Humanities Program
Director: Christopher Flannery, Ph.D.
Professors
Professor of English
Diana Pavlac Glyer, Ph.D.
Professor of Theology and Ethics, Department of Theology and Philosophy
Steve Wilkens, Ph.D.
Associate Professors
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Chair, Department of Theology and Philosophy
Teri Merrick, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Department of Theology and Philosophy, High Sierra Campus
David Williams, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor of Art
Tom Dunn, M.A.
Program Overview
All humanities courses have roots in the liberal arts. The liberal arts are the foundations of a full liberal education, which rises from them and reaches beyond them. Throughout Christendom, from the time of Augustine, to the time of Aquinas, to the present, the liberal arts have been understood as the necessary preparation for the lofty and rigorous discipline of understanding in its fullness “…the truth [that] shall make you free” (John 8:32). The humanities curriculum builds on the foundation of the Great Works Option for fulfilling General Studies core requirements. Great works of literature, philosophy, art, music, science, and theology offer the most enriching content of the liberal arts and of liberal education itself. These great works are living teachers speaking to each generation with rare wisdom and beauty. They illuminate the human condition with the most penetrating light from the entire spectrum of human inquiry. Through study of such works, students of the humanities integrate the liberal arts with one another, with education as a whole, and with Christian higher education in particular.
A liberal arts education prepares the student not for a specific profession but for life itself, for the moral, intellectual, social, civic, and spiritual maturity and growth that accompany a life well-lived. A successful liberal education prepares the student for the proper ordering of all spheres of life and for a lifetime of learning. The first task of the liberal arts is to secure the liberation of the mind from those many fetters that can bind it: notably ignorance, prejudice, and the influence of the passions. In and through this essential freedom, the freedom of the mind, “humanity” manifests itself. The integrative principle of the liberal arts is this idea, humanitas, the root of humanities.
Courses Offered
- HUM 221/HUM 321 Humanities Seminar I: Great Works (3, 4)
- HUM 222/HUM 322 Humanities Seminar II: Literary Masterpieces (3, 4)
- HUM 223/HUM 323 Humanities Seminar III: Aesthetics (3, 4)
- HUM 224/HUM 324 Humanities Seminar IV: Great Ideas (3, 4)
- HUM 325 Humanities Seminary V: Christian Classics (3, 4)
Program Requirements
| Requirements for the Humanities Minor | 24 units | |
| The humanities minor consists of 24 units from the listed courses. At least 12 units must be upper-division HUM courses. Students must take HUM courses (upper or lower division) in at least three categories of the General Studies curriculum. | ||
| ART 354 | Ancient Art History* | 3 |
| ART 356 | History of Modern Art*/*** | 3 |
| ART 361 | Early Christian and Medieval Art* | 3 |
| ART 362 | Renaissance to Rococo Art* | 3 |
| ENGL 377 | Shakespeare*** | 3 |
| ENGL 410 | American Novel** | 3 |
| ENGL 466 | British Novel | 3 |
| HUM 221 | Humanities Seminar I: Great Works* | 3,4 |
| HUM 222 | Humanities Seminar II: Literary Masterpieces* | 3,4 |
| HUM 223 | Humanities Seminar III: Aesthetics* | 3,4 |
| HUM 224 | Humanities Seminar IV: Great Ideas* | 3,4 |
| HUM 321 | Humanities Seminar I: Great Works* | 3,4 |
| HUM 322 | Humanities Seminar II: Literary Masterpieces* | 3,4 |
| HUM 323 | Humanities Seminar III: Aesthetics* | 3,4 |
| HUM 324 | Humanities Seminar IV: Great Ideas* | 3,4 |
| HUM 325 | Humanities Seminary V: Christian Classics* | 3,4 |
| MUS 351 | Ancient, Renaissance, and World Music Literature** | 3 |
| MUS 352 | Baroque, Classical, and Early Romantic Music Literature**/*** | 3 |
| MUS 455 | Late Romantic and 20th Century Music Literature** | 3 |
| PHIL 210 | Philosophical Foundations of Western Thought* | 3 |
| PHIL 310 | History of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 320 | History of Modern Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 340 | Concepts of Human Nature*/*** | 3 |
| POLI 160 | Introduction to Politics* | 3 |
| POLI 360 | Classical Political Thought** | 3 |
| POLI 363 | Modern Political Thought | 3 |
| POLI 376 | The American Founding | 3 |
| SOC 298 | Basic Sociological Theory* | 3 |
| SPAN 432 | Literary Masters | 3 |
| SPAN 431 | Spanish Language Poetry and Short Story | 3 |
| UBBL 310 | I and II Samuel* | 3 |
| UBBL 340 | Romans and Galatians* | 3 |
| UBBL 341 | Thessalonian and Corinthian Epistles* | 3 |
| UBBL 343 | The General Epistles* | 3 |
| *Meets a General Studies Core (or elective) requirement. | ||
| **Meets a General Studies elective requirement. | ||
| ***Meets the Upper Division Writing Intensive requirement. | ||
