02/23/10

"What I have observed... during the voyage to and from the land of Brazil, called America... may well be called a New World with respect to us." -- Jean de Léry, History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil

Origins of the Modern World

Welcome incoming International Honors students to the 2009-2010 school year!

Honors 111 is the first of a two-semester sequential course (IHON 111-112) that introduces students to the International Honors program, an interdisciplinary alternative to Pacific Lutheran University’s “core” curriculum. In IHON 111, we will consider the diverse ways in which various international communities since the time of Ancient Rome have reflected on the responsibilities of “self” and “authority” towards the “other” in society. 

We will study the three great civilizations that became the heirs of Ancient Rome (the Byzantine Empire, Islamic Civilization, and Western Europe), and we will reflect on two interdisciplinary questions along the way: “What does it mean to be human?” and “What does it mean to live in community?”  Throughout the semester we will analyze historical, literary, philosophical, religious, and artistic sources that continue to inform, misinform, reinforce, or shape the way individuals and communities are perceived within society.  The content in this course is compatible with, but is not identical to, the other sections of IHON 111 offered in Fall 2009.

Note: Fall 2009 IHON 111 students (all sections) are required to attend two or three student colloquia during Fall 2009, which offer an opportunity to gather as a group and discuss interesting topics.  The colloquia are scheduled for Oct. 7, 2009 and Nov. 18, 2009.

Required Reading for Fall 2009 (get these books on your own or via the PLU Bookstore):

X       Greer and Lewis, A Brief History of The Western World, 9th Edition (Wadsworth, 2005), isbn 9780534642365

X       Thomas Cahill, The Gifts of the Jews (1999, Anchor Books)

X       Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity (1996, HarperOne)

X       Karen Armstrong, Muhammad: A Prophet for our Time (Eminent Lives mass market ed., 2006), isbn 0060598972

X       Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (Penguin Great Ideas, 2005), isbn 978-0143036333

X       More, Utopia, ed. George M. Logan and Robert M. Adams (Cambridge, 1989), isbn 0-521-34797

X       Bartolome de Las Casas, Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (Penguin, 1999), isbn 978-0140445626

X       Handouts distributed in class or provided to you via a PLU web site

New International Honors 111 students will find the following items of interest for our Fall 2009 course: