Hello supporters of Study The Great Books!
I hope you have had a very Happy Thanksgiving and that your preparations for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year are also forming up nicely! I wanted to touch base with you about the progress of STGB’s main mission, namely, curriculum development. Progress is being made steadily.
I am excited to share with you that I have now completed my Ph.D. I successfully defended my dissertation on the 14th of this month. I wrote on the role stories play in development and preservation of virtue in each generation. In January I intend to make my dissertation available in PDF form to my paid subscribers. I am also currently investigating options for publishing the work as a book (slightly modified for public consumption). Here is a look at the Table of Contents for my dissertation:
Now that I am done with my doctorate I will be able to devote even more time to this project and I expect that we are only a little over a year away from the first part of the curriculum (7th grade History and Literature). I am excited to announce that The Beza Institute has expressed interest in publishing the curriculum once the material is complete. Beza is currently working to set up their printing press and I know there will be many exciting materials coming from them in the near future.
If you are a newer subscriber to STGB I would encourage you to click HERE to learn about the full scope of this curriculum project and where it is all going. The goal, in short, is to produce a fully integrated classical Christian humanities curriculum written with a commitment to conservative and Reformed theology. The Great Books History and Literature material will form the base upon which the Logic, Classical Composition, and Rhetoric curricula will draw and interact. I’m excited also to tell you that the Logic and Rhetoric Curriculum will have a particular emphasis upon Christian apologetics.
If at any point you want to see how things are going with this project you can check in at the pinned post called Directory of Resources (which is constantly being updated) to see the various book studies and planned layout of the progression (subject to some change as the project develops). You will also find here explanations and examples of classical composition and rhetoric assignments as well as numerous articles to help connect you to the mission of classical Christian education.
At the bottom of this post you will find a list of study guides which are complete and available for free to all on this site (more are being added regularly). If you would like access to PDF versions (with bonus material) of these study guides for easier use in your classroom or at the homeschool table you may want to consider subscribing to Study The Great Books as a paid subscriber for just $5 a month. Paid subscribers are not just given access to the PDF files, they also get access to live online discussion about great literature and crash courses in classical education during summer break. Most importantly, paid subscribers help to make this curriculum project able to continue. Your subscriptions are incredibly helpful and encouraging as STGB continues to work towards making a high quality fully integrated humanities curriculum available to schools and families all around the world. I am blessed to have heard from an increasing number of families who are already making use of the materials available. I am excited to get to the point where this material can be in print format and I am greatly looking forward to getting to the next phase of the project and producing the Logic curriculum alongside the Great Books History and Literature material.
Thanks for all you do to encourage me! Thanks also for caring about this mission and helping to bring quality CCE material to countless schools and families!
In Christ Alone,
Jacob Allee, Ph.D. (I had to sign off that way! You understand. ;-)
History and Literature (Alphabetical by Author)
Dickens, Charles
Green, Roger Lancelyn
Henty, George Alfred
Plato
Pliny (The Younger)
Plutarch:
Lives
Sophocles:
Sutcliff, Rosemary
Unknown Authorship:
Biblical Studies (Canonical Order)
Hey Jacob, any news on getting your dissertation out?
Congrats! Keep up the great work. Any new Tolle Lege episodes in the works? I miss your discussions with Josh.