Readings

Please print and bring readings with you to seminar sessions. Please note that laptops and electronic devices are not permitted during McConnell Center seminars.

Fall 2021

• 8/3 Test Event

  • Link to Readings

• 10/13 Dr. Bradley Birzer - An Inklings Seminar: Why You Should Read J.R.R. Tolkien

  • "Leaf by Niggle" by J.R.R. Tolkien

• 10/27 Dr. Dale Billingsley - Ethical Dialectics in the Western Literary Tradition

  • Outline of discussion (links to readings included)

• 11/10 Dr. Peter West - Britain’s First Female Professor of Philosophy: Susan Stebbing and Philosophy in the Public Sphere

  • Selections from Stebbing's Thinking to Some Purpose (1939)

• 11/17 Dr. Bradley Birzer - An Inklings Seminar: Why You Should Read Charles Williams

  • Charles Williams Reading Selections

• 12/2 An Introduction to Russell Kirk (Mecosta)

  • Russell Kirk, "Why I am a Conservative"

  • Russell Kirk, "Is Life Worth Living"

  • Russell Kirk, "Reflections of a Gothic Mind"

  • Russell Kirk, "A Cautionary Note on the Ghostly Tale"

Spring 2021

• 1/28 Dr. Gary Gregg - Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America

  • Selection from Albion's Seed

• 1/29 Mr. Paul Sinclair - How to Be a Brit

  • Assorted readings

• 1/29 & 2/12 Robert Penn Warren Interviews Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin

  • Ellison and Baldwin

• 2/5 Dr. Gary Gregg - Why You Should Read George MacDonald

  • "The Golden Key" by George MacDonald

• 2/8 Dr. Ingrid Gregg - Adam Smith and the Scottish Enlightenment

  • Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) Part I, Section I, Chapters I – IV, Propriety and Sympathy: https://www.adamsmithworks.org/texts/section-i-of-the-sense-of-propriety

  • TMS, Part III, Chapter 1, The Foundation of Judgment Concerning the Sentiments and Conduct of Others, Self-Approbation or Not: https://www.adamsmithworks.org/texts/chapter-i-of-the-principle-of-self-approbation-and-of-self-disapprobation

  • Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (WN), Book I, Smith’s Introduction, Chapters I-III: https://www.adamsmithworks.org/texts/introduction-and-plan-of-the-work; https://www.adamsmithworks.org/texts/book-i-of-the-causes-of-improvement-in-the-productive-powers-of-labour-and-of-the-order-according-to-which-its-produce-is-naturally-distributed-among-the-different-ranks-of-the-people

  • OPTIONAL: Aaron Garrett and Ryan Hanley, “Adam Smith: History and Impartiality,” (Chapter 7 in Scottish Philosophy in the Eighteenth Century, Volume I: Morals, Politics, Art, Religion (History Of Scottish Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 2015), Pages 239-282.

• 2/23 Dr. Andreas Elpidorou - Embracing Boredom

  • "In Praise of Boredom" by Joseph Brosky

  • "The Quiet Alarm" by Andreas Elpidorou

• 2/25 Emily Davis - Why You Should Watch the Great British Bake-Off

  • Ricky Gervais, "The Difference Between American and British Humour"

  • Watch Season 1, Episode 1 (Cake) on Netflix to familiarize yourself with the show

• 3/22 & 3/23 Natalie Smith - Why You Should Read Dorothy Sayers

  • Dorothy Sayers, Selected Readings

• 3/29 & 3/30 Connor Tracy - Why You Should Read Samuel Johnson

  • Samuel Johnson, Selected Essays

• 4/5 Maj. Trivius Caldwell - Transcendence: A Deep Dive into the Decolonization of the Mind

  • Discussion Questions

• 4/20 Molly Baldock - Senior Thesis Presentation

  • Senior Thesis

• 4/22 Piedea

  • "The Door in the Wall"