Please see below for the Spring 2023 Course Catalog for the Westminster/Wesleyan Lifelong Learning Institute. Copies of the catalog are also available in Westminster-Canterbury Resident Services or on the WC Resident Hub at residenthub.org.
Course 1 - Mystic, Humanist, Anarchist and Traitor: Four Writers Who changed our World.
Presented by: Dr. Benson P. Fraser, Westminster-Canterbury Fellow for Religious, Studies and Lifelong Learning at Virginia Wesleyan University.
Course Description: A study of the lives of four man who have helped shape the 20th century. You may be familiar with the names of Martin Buber, Viktor Frankl, Jacques Ellul and Paulo Freire but do you really know the struggles they faced and how they responded to these life situations? We will look at the lives of these extraordinary men and how their works have influenced us today.
Dates and Weekly Topics:
Lecture 1: Friday, February 3rd at 2:00 p.m. in the Anderson Bayview Room.
Martin Buber’s Life and Work. This Austrian Jewish philosopher who immigrated to Israel is an important figure in our time. His most famous essay I-Thou is considered a classic study of the philosophy of dialogue. He and his works have much to teach us today with so many challenging voices cluttering our social conversation.
Lecture 2: Friday, February 10th at 2:00 p.m. Anderson Bayview Room.
Viktor Frankl’s Life and Work. This Austrian psychiatrist whose life journey took him through several Nazi concentration camps (including Auschwitz). Frankl eventually wrote one of the most important works on the meaning of life ever written. His book Man’s Search for Meaning sold millions of copies and has been translated into several languages. In 1991 it was called one of the most influential books in the US by the Library of Congress. After the war, Frankl went on to found a form of psychological therapy called Logotherapy (a form of existential analysis).
Lecture 3: Friday, February 17th at 2:00 p.m. Anderson Bayview Room.
Jacques Ellul’s Life and Work. This influential Frenchman was a sociologist and professor and lay-pastor who’s greatest influences were Karl Marx and Soren Kierkegaard. Perhaps his most important intellectual contribution was in the area of communication and technology where he wrote an important work The Technological Society in 1964. This book as well as others he has written have continued to shape our understanding of technology and society to this day.
Lecture 4: Friday, February 24th at 2:00 p.m. Anderson Bayview Room.
Paulo Freire’s Life and Work. Freire is a Brazilian educator who champions the education of poor in his country. He is a leading advocate of critical pedagogy and his work Pedagogy of the Oppressed is a foundational text in this area. Today, he continues to have strong influence not only in his country but around the world.
Course 2 - Advancing the Beloved Community in the Public Square
Presented by: Antipas L. Harris is the founder and president-dean of the Urban Renewal Center (URC) in Norfolk, Virginia. Harris has a Master of Sacred Theology from Yale University, a Doctor of Ministry in Leadership in the Church and Society from Boston University, and a Doctor of Philosophy from St. Thomas University.
Lecture Date: Tuesday, February 7th at 3:00 p.m. in the Penthouse Lounge.
This course explores early 20th century philosopher Josiah Royce's philosophy of loyalty encoded in Martin Luther King's "Beloved Community." The Beloved Community is one in which all of God's children co-exist with harmony and with equal opportunities for a better world. It ponders the challenges in our own social context to live into the Beloved Community.
Course 3 - Special Showing of the New Documentary Film: Hollywood Teach Us To Pray
Presented by: Dr. Terrence Lindvall, C.S. Lewis Endowed Chair in Communication and Christian Thought and Professor of Communication.
Lecture Date: Tuesday, February 21st from 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. in the Penthouse Lounge.
Special Showing of the new documentary film: Hollywood, Teach Us To Pray from Executive Producer Dr. Terry Lindvall. This film examines dozens of popular movies which have prayers in them. Included in this documentary are several clips of prayers from these important films with insights into there place in social consciousness. Furthermore, it examines how these films and prayers influence our understanding of prayer and religion.
Course 4 - The Supreme Court Confronts Five Huge Policy Questions.
Presented by: Dr. Timothy G. O’Rourke (Ph.D., Duke, Political Science) served as Vice President and Provost at Virginia Wesleyan University from 2007 to 2019. Dr. O’Rourke is now Vice President Emeritus, Virginia Wesleyan University.
Course Description: The Supreme Court is considering a series of cases that could have political consequences as momentous as last June’s abortion ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The subjects currently before the Court include colleges’ use of race in admissions, federal student loan forgiveness, partisan gerrymandering, border security, and artists’ free speech rights. Significantly, the Biden Administration is a participant in all of these cases, either as a party or as amicus curiae (friend of the court). The Court already has heard oral argument in all but the student loan case and will likely issue decisions in all of these cases near the end of its current term in June 2023. This five-part series presents the views of the contending sides in each case and places the issues in the larger political context
Dates and Weekly Topics:
Lecture 1: Thursday, March 2nd at 2:00 p.m. in the Penthouse Lounge.
Can a Public Accommodations Law Force an Artist to Violate Her Conscience? In 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis (Docket 21-476), a Christian web designer, relying on the First Amendment guarantee of Free Speech, is challenging a Colorado public accommodations law that requires her to create custom websites celebrating gay marriage, a result at odds with her religious convictions. More than 90 amicus briefs have been filed in this hotly contested case.
Lecture 2: Thursday, March 9th at 2:00 p.m. in the Penthouse Lounge.
Can a State Supreme Court Overturn a State Legislature’s Congressional Gerrymander? The North Carolina Supreme Court rejected, as a partisan gerrymander, the state legislature’s congressional districting map. In Moore v. Harper (Docket 21-1271), the legislature argues that Article I, Section 4, of the Constitution assigns the line-drawing task exclusively to the state’s legislature. A decision in favor of Moore, the Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, would cast doubt on state constitutional and judicial restrictions of congressional line-drawing in many states.
Lecture 3: Thursday, March 16th at 2:00 p.m. in the Penthouse Lounge.
Can a College Use Race as a Factor in Admissions? Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina (Docket 21-707), challenges UNC’s use of race as a violation of Equal Protection under the 14th Amendment. The case revisits a continuing controversy that dates to Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), in which the Court approved the use of race as a plus factor in creating a diverse student body. Also before the Court is a challenge to private college admissions under the 1964 Civil Rights Act (Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College).
Lecture 4: Thursday, March 23rd at 2:00 p.m. in the Penthouse Lounge.
Can the United States Control Its Southern Border? At issue in United States v. Texas (Docket 22-58) is the status of a set of Homeland Security guidelines on border enforcement, attacked by Texas and Louisiana as ineffective and contrary to law. In Biden v. Texas, decided in June 2022, the Court ruled that the Biden Administration could terminate the Trump era’s Remain in Mexico policy. This new case presents different questions, but, with the number of immigrants surging, the Court’s involvement in border controversies is likely to be ongoing. (A second case, centered on potential end of Covid screening at the border is also before the Court.)
Lecture 5: Thursday, March 30th at 2:00 p.m. in the Penthouse Lounge.
Can the President Forgive $400 Billion in Student Loans? In Biden v. Nebraska (Docket 22-506), a group of states has challenged the President’s authority under the Heroes Act of 2003 to forgive individual borrowers of $10,000 to $20,000 in student loan obligations (totaling about $400 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office). A key issue is whether the states have standing to bring the suit.
Course 5 - A Study of The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis.
Presented by: Dr. Benson P. Fraser, Westminster-Canterbury Fellow for Religious, Studies and Lifelong Learning at Virginia Wesleyan University.
Course Description: Lewis’s study of the anti-human trend of modern Western culture has perhaps even more relevance today that when it was written. In this work Lewis sets out to persuade us of the importance and relevance of universal values such as courage and honor in contemporary society. The National Review chose this book as number seven in their “100 Best Nonfiction Boks and of the Twentieth Century” and the Intercollegiate Studies Institute rated the book as the second-best book of the twentieth century. In this series of lectures, we will explore this brief work and point out its relevance for issues we face today.
*Note: The Abolition of Man is a short work (just over 100 pages) and you can easily read it in preparations for each class, but it is not necessary to do so as I will summarize each chapter as we proceed through the book.
Dates and Weekly Topics:
Lecture 1: Friday, March 3rd at 11:00 a.m.in the Penthouse Lounge.
The Reception, Occasion, Context and Overview. Lewis did not feel that this book was well received yet, few of Lewis’s books have received more accolades or sold as well as this work. This small book (just over 100 pages) is a closely argued work with great insight into the thorny question of whether moral value is objective on not. This issue may seem rather abstract and be thought to have little relevance for us today, however Lewis felt that we needed to understand what we mean when we say something is right or wrong. This issue may sound abstract and unimportant, but in a day of alternative facts and questionable values we need to understanding of what we mean when we use the word “truth” with regard to our communication of values. Whether you agree with him or not he presents a work that is worth our attention.
Lecture 2: Friday, March 10th at 11:00 a.m.in the Penthouse Lounge.
Men without Chests. In this first Chapter Lewis criticizes modern man’s attempts to attempts to debunk natural values. In this chapter Lewis argues that thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine believed that the purpose of education was to train children to like and dislike what they ought to like or dislike and to love the good and hate the bad.
Lecture 3: Friday, March 17th at 11:00 a.m.in the Penthouse Lounge.
The Way. Lewis introduces the concept of the Tao (the ultimate “way” or “path” of reality and human conduct) and he argues that without the Tao, no value judgments can be made at all. We will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this approach.
Lecture 4: Friday, March 24th at 11:00 a.m.in the Penthouse Lounge.
The Abolition of Man. In the third chapter Lewis describes the ultimate consequences of this debunking in which values and morals of the majority are controlled by a the few. I will try to draw implications from this chapter to inform how we behave in our own time.
Lecture 5: Friday, March 31st at 11:00 a.m.in the Penthouse Lounge.
The Conclusion and Legacy. For Lewis morals must be taught through education. For him those who lack the proper values or morals may be called “men without chests” in that they lack the specifically human element. In this lecture we will unpack this term “men without chests” and make it clear as well as summarize the important points raised in this work.
Course 6 - A Study of The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness.
Presented by: Dr. Benson P. Fraser, Westminster-Canterbury Fellow for Religious, Studies and Lifelong Learning at Virginia Wesleyan University.
Course Description: What Makes a Good Life? This class examines the new book The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz, the director and associate director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development. This study is based on research conducted over an 80-year period and brings together scientific and practical knowledge to shed light on the topic of how we can live a happy life. The Good Life addresses our greatest need: meaningful human connection. We can learn a lot from these two scholars on how to live our lives today and how to make and keep our connections with other people no matter how old we are. The findings of this study articulate how we can live happier and longer. This class will identify the important issues raised and explain how attending to the findings can improve our lives.
*Note: The Good Life is an interesting book and easy to understand. You can easily read the work in preparation for each class, but it is not necessary to do so as I will summarize the pertinent material as we proceed through the book.
Dates and Weekly Topics:
Lecture 1: Friday, April 7th at 2:00 p.m. in the Anderson Bayview Room.
What Makes a Good Life. This lecture examines the findings of a more than 80-year study into the lives of hundreds of man (and now women), in order to understand what makes a good life. This first lecture examines the purpose and method used in this study. Furthermore, we will identify the initial findings of these Harvard researchers.
Lecture 2: Friday, April 14th at 2:00 p.m. in the Anderson Bayview Room.
Keeping Your Relationships in Shape. In this lecture we look at the importance of relationships in the lives of these people. In so doing we will examine the crucial predictors of happiness and glean from these scholars what they found to be most important to living a long and prosperous life.
Lecture 3: Friday, April 21st at 2:00 p.m. in the Anderson Bayview Room.
Adapting to Challenges in Your Relationships. By now it should be clear that good relationships are important to the well-being and happiness of the people participating in this study. But not all relationships are necessarily good for you nor are they easy to maintain. So, in this lecture we look at what the authors of this study have to say about maintaining your relationships.
Lecture 4: Friday, April 28th at 2:00 p.m. in the Anderson Bayview Room.
Investing in Connections. In this final lecture we will explore why the authors interpret the findings of this study as important in expanding our brains and enriching our hearts. Furthermore, we will examine how to make new relationships at any age and the impact this activity has on one’s well-being. It is never to late to make new friends and improve your life.
Course 7 - A View to Understanding Markets in our Time.
Presented by: Dr. Garrett Wood, who served as a Naval Surface Warfare Officer in the US Navy before leaving to attain his Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University. He publishes research on the intersection of defense and economics while teaching at Virginia Wesleyan University.
Dates and Weekly Topics:
Lecture 1: Wednesday April 12th at 1:00 p.m.in the Anderson Bayview Room.
Price Signals: Why Only Free Markets Deliver Prosperity. Most people argue about motivation when they argue about different economic systems. What incentive would anyone have to work under socialism or communism if the wealth of others is redistributed to them? That challenge stands, but it says nothing about the function prices serve in making the economy work, and this lecture explains how prices are formed, what function they serve, and why prices and prosperity are handicapped in anything other than a free market.
Lecture 2: Wednesday April 19th at 1:00 p.m.in the Anderson Bayview Room.
Markets and Morality. Most economists agree that the operation of price signals in a free market produces more prosperity than any other economic system. But even if that's true, can we call a system based on the pursuit of individual self-interest moral? Is a guilty conscious of the price of all that prosperity, or can markets make us better people?
Course 8 - Documenting Natural History
Presented by: Dr. Stu Minnis, Professor and Chair of Communication at Virginia Wesleyan University
Lecture Date: Wednesday, April 26th at 1:00 p.m. in the Anderson Bayview Room.
Broadcast natural history documentary filmmaking, such as PBS's Nature or David Attenborough specials on BBC, are very expensive undertakings requiring highly specialized equipment. How might an independent filmmaking on a shoestring budget go about doing it differently? Stu Minnis shares his experiences in making Time and Zion, a film about geologic deep time shot in Zion National Park, and The Old World: Mistaken Point and the Ediacaran Fossils of Newfoundland, about one of the oldest fossil sites on the planet.
Course 9 - European History through Art, Music, Architecture, & Literature, 1800-1914
Presented by: Dr. Sara Sewell, Professor of History at VWU
Course Description: This series examines the history of Europe from 1800 through 1914 through its culture. It focuses on examining cultural milestones in art, music, architecture, and literature. Tracing the evolution of Western cultural movements, the lectures are organized chronologically to elucidate why certain artistic trends appeared in a variety of forms and genres at specific times.
Dates and Weekly Topics:
Lecture 1: Thursday, May 4th, at 11:00 a.m in the Penthouse Lounge.
Neo-Classicism & Romanticism. Revolutions for democracy in France and the United States ushered in new aesthetic sensibilities. Many Westerners rejected the Baroque style, viewing it as inextricably tied to monarchical rule and formal religious institutions. Cultural innovators advocated Neo-classicism (known as the Federal style in the United States). As calls for democracy began to wane by 1820, however, Romanticism supplanted Neo-classicism. Our discussion will include works by painters Jacques-Louis David, David Casper Friedrich, and Eugène Delacroix; architect Jacques Germain Soufflot; writer Mary Shelley; and composers Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz List.
Lecture 2: Thursday, May 11th, at 11:00 a.m in the Penthouse Lounge.
Realism & Naturalism. As industrialization took off and society grappled with the new social questions that industrialization posed, Realism emerged by the mid nineteenth century. Realism rejected idealized depictions of humans and society, preferring ones that portrayed daily life more objectively. Our discussion will include works by authors Charles Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, and Émile Zola as well as artists Gustave Courbet and Honoré Daumier. The lecture also examines the birth of a new radical popular dance, the Waltz.
Lecture 3: Thursday, May 18th, at 11:00 a.m in the Penthouse Lounge.
Modernism, Part I. Following the lead of Realist and Naturalist artists, new cultural trailblazers appeared at the end of the nineteenth century. Under the broad umbrella of Modernism, this cultural movement deployed art and literature to analyze and to critique society. Our discussion will include works by psychologist Sigmund Freud, painters Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet, and playwright Frank Wedekind. We will also investigate architectural innovations with the use of steel, glass, and electricity in the Art Nouveau style.
Lecture 4: Thursday, May 25th, at 11:00 a.m in the Penthouse Lounge.
Modernism, Part II. Modernism was an expansive and enduring cultural movement that persisted into the twentieth century, albeit with significant modifications as it continued to challenge aesthetic boundaries. In the realm of art, artists increasingly embraced abstraction. Modernist or avant-garde ideas also spawned modernist music, which fundamentally reconceptualized musical elements, such as melody, harmony, and rhythm. Our discussion will include works by painters Paul Gauguin, Franz Marc, and Pablo Picasso as well as composers Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky.
Course 10 - The Lives and Works of Two Men Who Have Influenced our Understanding of the Media Today
Presented by: Dr. Benson P. Fraser, Westminster-Canterbury Fellow for Religious, Studies and Lifelong Learning at Virginia Wesleyan University.
Course Description: This class will study the lives of two man who have helped shape our view of the media and society. You may not be familiar with the names of Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman, but they have shaped our understanding of media use and culture for over 60 years. We will look at the lives of these extraordinary men and study how their works have influenced our world today.
Dates and Weekly Topics:
Lecture 1: Friday, May 5th, at 11:00 a.m in the Penthouse Lounge.
Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian scholar whose work is the cornerstone of the study of media theory. He created and popularized the terms “the media is the message” and “the “global village”. He predicted the World Wide Web almost a generation before it was invented. His ideas still shape our understanding of the media and its use today.
Lecture 2: Friday, May 12th, at 11:00 a.m in the Penthouse Lounge.
Neil Postman was an American media theorists who was influenced by McLuhan and went on to develop a critical attitude toward digital technology. He published over twenty books including Amusing Ourselves to Death and The Disappearance of Childhood. Postman argued that receiving our ideas through visual imagery seriously influences news, history, politics to entertainment.
Course 11 - Anthology Television of the 1950s-1960s: The Mysterious to the Weird!
Presented by: Dr. Dennis Bounds, Writer, Author, and Adjunct Professor at Virginia Wesleyan University.
Course Description: A series of three presentations on three of the key television anthology series that explore the mysterious to the weird, using mystery, science-fiction, crime, or fantasy to tell their tales.
Dates and Weekly Topics:
Lecture 1: Friday, May 19th, at 2:00 p.m in the Penthouse Lounge.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1962) — Mostly adapted from short stories involving crime, detection, and mystery. Each episode is humorously introduced by the master director himself: Alfred Hitchcock.
Lecture 2: Friday, May 26th, at 2:00 p.m in the Penthouse Lounge.
One Step Beyond (1959-1961) — Each story is (very loosely) based on actual events of the mysterious and paranormal. Hosted and mostly directed by John Newland.
Lecture 3: Friday, June 2nd, at 2:00 p.m in the Penthouse Lounge.
The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) — Some of the best stories of fantasy (with some science fiction) that deal with contemporary social issues set in a fantasy or science-fictional context. Hosted and mostly written by Rod Serling.
Course 12 - Stories and their Origin from Germany and Scotland.
Presented by: Dr. Benson P. Fraser, Westminster-Canterbury Fellow for Religious, Studies and Lifelong Learning at Virginia Wesleyan University.
Lecture Date: Friday, June 9th at 2:00 p.m. in the Penthouse Lounge.
This lecture will examine the origins of stories from Germany and Scotland. In a recent trip to Germany, I identified and photographed the various sites where the Grimm Brothers collected the stories for their book: Grimms’ Fairy Tales. In this lecture, we will try to understand how these stories developed into such important cultural messages. In Scotland I will focus on the folktales found in this culture during a recent trip I took to Scotland.