Lehrman American Studies Center

Course Description:

This course addresses fundamental questions about the nature of politics, questions about religion and politics, the individual and the community, liberty and tyranny, and does so through a selection of great political literature, essays, films and theological classics. It lays the foundation for all subsequent study of politics in the curriculum.

Course Objectives:

Students will be able to identify, articulate and intelligently discuss fundamental political questions.

• Course Format: lectures with extensive in-class discussion.

• Course Sequence: This course establishes a theoretical framework for all further study of politics, and thus it is pre-requisite to those studies.

• Pre-requisite: none

 

REQUIRED TEXTS:

1. Orwell, George. “Politics and the English Language.” (student portal)
2. Bible selections. - Gen. 1-3; Ps. 2; Ez. 36:22-28; Jer. 31:31-34; Hab. 2:14; Rom. 13:1-7; Acts 23:2-5; I Cor. 15:22, 45; II Cor. 5:17; I Tim. 2:1-2; Heb. 13:17; I Peter 2:13-17; Rev. 19:11-16, 21-22)
3. Wolters, Albert. Creation Regained, Second ed. (Eerdmans, 2005) - pp. 13-86
4. Goldsworthy, Graeme. Selections from Gospel and Kingdom. (student portal)
5. Wolterstorff, Nicholas. “Theological Foundations for an Evangelical Political Philosophy.” (student portal)
6. Hopfl, Harro, ed. Luther and Calvin on Secular Authority. (Cambridge, 1991) - pp.3-23; 30-84.
7. Unam Sanctam, 1302 (student portal)
8. Augustine selections from The City of God and from On Christian Doctrine (student portal)
9. Bloom, Allan. The Republic of Plato. (Basic Books; ret. $23; Amazon $15. You MUST have this translation.)
10. Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. (Harper; ret. $14; Amazon $11.00) Recommended Companion Readings
11. Nichols, Mary P. Socrates and the Political Community. (SUNY, 1987)
12. Strauss, Leo. The City and Man. (Chicago, 1964)
13. Strauss, Leo, “Plato” in Strauss & Cropsey, History of Political Philosophy. (any edition)

 

Course Requirements

• Series of “focus assignments” (15%)
• Book review essay (10%)
• Midterm exam (20%)
• Essay (30%)
• Final exam (25%)

• Book Review: a 750-1000 word book report on one of the following (no more than 10 reports on each book) is due September 7. The books are on reserve at the library. Of course, you are also free to buy the book of your choice. Answer the following: What problem is the author addressing? Why does he see it as a problem? What does he say in response? Add your personal reflections. These authors are raising serious issues. I want to see evidence that you have seriously engaged with them. I also want to read a polished paper. The form and substance of your paper will be graded 50:50.

1. Boice, James M. Renewing Your Mind in a Mindless World: Learning to Think and Act Biblically. (2001)
2. Dockery, David. Renewing Minds. (2007)
3. Guinness, Os. Fit Bodies Fat Minds. (1994)
4. Marsden, George. The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship. (1997)
5. Moreland, J.P. Love Your God with All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul. (1997)
6. Noll, Mark. The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. (1995)
7. Pearcey, Nancy. Total Truth. (2004) Introduction and chapters 1, 9-11, 13.

 

Schedule

• Introduction
  • August 28 Introduction & the use of your mind in politics – start working on your book review
  • September 2 The use of your speech in politics – read Orwell, “Politics and the English Language” FA#1
  • Sept. 5 First paper due, 4:30 p.m. (750-1000 word book report)

• Religion & Politics
  • Sept. 4, 9 The Kingdom of God – read Bible selections & Wolters FA#2
  • Sept. 11 The structure of Christian political thought – read Goldsworthy & Wolterstorff FA#3
  • Sept. 16 The structure of Christian political thought – read Luther & Calvin FA#4
  • Sept. 18 The Theologico-Political Problem – Unam Sanctam

• The Individual & the Community - Plato, The Republic
  • Sept. 23 Definitions of justice: Cephalus (327a – 331e) FA#5
  • Sept. 25 Definitions of justice: Polemarchus (332a – 336a) FA#6
  • Sept. 30 Polemarchus (cont’d)
  • Oct. 2 Thrasymachus: the struggle in all of us – the moneymaker’s art & recap (336b to end of Bk I) FA#7
  • Oct. 7 Justice challenged & defended: the City in Speech (Book II: 357a – 376c) FA#8
  • Oct. 9 Political Education & Noble Lie (376c – 417b, end of Book III) FA#9
  • October 14 Midterm examination (through Book I of The Republic)
  • Oct. 16 Discussion – midterm, major themes of the course so far, etc.
  • Oct. 21 Unity in the city, Justice in the soul (Books IV-V) FA#10
  • Oct. 23 Philosopher king; Images of philosophy in relation to politics (Book VI to 503b) FA#11
  • Oct. 28 The Cave (VII to 520e)
  • Oct. 30 The Theologico-Political Problem – Augustine FA#12
  • Nov. 3-7 Each student is required to view one of the four assigned films this week
  • Nov.4 Election Day!

• The Cave & Christ
  • Nov. 6 Citizenship and Statesmanship
  • Nov. 7 Second paper due, 4:30 p.m. (1000-1300 word essay on Plato’s Republic)
  • Nov. 11 Forms of Government (Book VIII) FA#13

• Liberty & Tyranny
  • Nov. 13 Discussion of the films (start reading and pondering Brave New World)
  • Nov. 18 Huxley, Brave New World ch. 1-3 FA #14 (ch. 1-10)
  • Nov. 20 Huxley, Brave New World ch. 4-10
  • Nov. 25 Huxley, Brave New World ch. 11-18 FA #15 (ch. 11ff.)
  • Nov. 27 Thanksgiving Break
  • December 2 Huxley, Brave New World
  • Dec. 4 Conclusion: Putting it all together

 

 Movie Descriptions

• The Killing Fields: Sydney Schanberg is a New York Times journalist covering the civil war in Cambodia. Together with local journalist Dith Pran, they cover some of the tragedy and madness of the war. When the American forces leave, Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind himself to help Schanberg cover the event. As an American, Schanberg won't have any trouble leaving the country, but the situation is different for Pran; he's a Cambodian national, and the Khmer Rouge are moving in.

• Hotel Rwanda: Ten years ago some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda--and in an era of high-speed communication and round the clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered. In the face of these unspeakable actions, inspired by his love for his family, an ordinary man summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages.

• The Inner Circle: Anyone who is sensitive to graphic depictions of violence and brutality should opt for this one. This is the true story of Ivan Sanchin, the KGB officer who was Stalin's private film projectionist from 1939 until the dictator's death. Told from Sanchin's view, the sympathetic but tragically flawed hero maintains unwavering faith in his "Master" despite the arrest of his neighbors and his involvement with their daughter, his wife's affair with the chilling State Security chief Lavrentii Beria and her tragic decline, and the deadly political machinations within the Kremlin he witnesses firsthand.

• Anna and the King: Anna, a grieving missionary widow, is employed by the polygamous but modernizing king of Siam in 1860 to educate his sixty-eight children. The humor and politics of the culture clash are given equal measure. Unlike Yul Brunner's character in The King and I, Chow Yun-Fat's king is a picture of nobility. The actual King Mongkut was a man of deep learning, and originated the Thai alphabet. I have chosen this film as a study in the problem of political reform, even under an absolute, but enlightened ruler, and in general as a study in statesmanship in circumstances of social change and political upheaval.

 

Recommended Reading

1. Beale, Greg. The Temple and the Church’s Mission. (2004)
2. Bloom, Allan. The Closing of the American Mind. (1987)
3. Golding, William. Lord of the Flies.
4. Kemeny, P.C., ed. Church, State and Public Justice: Five Views. (IVP, 2007)
5. Kline, Meredith. Kingdom Prologue (or anything by this author).
6. Kuyper, Abraham. “Calvinism and Politics” in Lectures on Calvinism. (1899)
7. Lewis, C.S. The Abolition of Man.
8. Orwell, George. 1984 and Animal Farm.
9. Pearsey, Nancy. Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity. (2004)
10. Schaeffer, Francis. A Christian Manifesto. (1981)
11. Sider, Ron and Dianne Knippers, ed. Toward an Evangelical Public Policy. (Baker, 2005)
12. Smith, Gary Scott, ed. God and Politics: Four Views on the Reformation of Civil Government. (P&R, 1989)
13. Strauss, Leo. Natural Right and History. (1950)
14. Strauss, Leo. The City and Man. (1964)
15. Strauss, Leo. What Is Political Philosophy? (1959)
16. Van Til, Henry R. The Calvinistic Concept of Culture. (1959)
17. Vos, Geerhardus. Biblical Theology. (1948)
18. Weaver, Richard. Ideas Have Consequences. (1948)
19. Wells, David. God In the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams. (1995)
20. Wells, David. No Place for Truth: or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology? (1993)

 

Recommended Films

1. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) - Dir. Frank Capra. Stars James Stewart
2. The Great Dictator (1940) – Dir. & stars Charlie Chaplin
3. Citizen Kane (1941) - Dir. Orson Welles. Stars Orson Welles
4. All The King’s Men (1949) - Dir. Robert Rossen. Stars Broderick Crawford
5. A Face in the Crowd (1957) – Dir. Elia Kazan. Stars Andy Griffith
6. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) – Dir. Stanley Kramer. Stars Spencer Tracy
7. A Clockwork Orange (1971) - Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Stars Malcolm McDowell
8. All The President’s Men (1976) - Dir. Alan J. Pakula. Stars Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman
9. Network (1976) – Dir. Sidney Lumet. Stars Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway
10. Novecento/1900 (1976) – Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci. Stars Robert de Niro, Gerard Depardieu
11. The Killing Fields (1984) – Dir. Roland Joffe. Stars Sam Waterson, Haing Ngor
12. Mississippi Burning (1988) – Dir. Alan Parker. Stars Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe
13. Metropolitan (1990) – Dir. Whit Stillman
14. The Inner Circle (1991) – Dir. Andrei Konchalovsky. Stars Tom Hulce, Lolita Davidovich
15. Schindler’s List (1993) – Dir. Steven Spielberg. Stars Liam Neeson
16. My Fellow Americans (1996) – Dir. Peter Segal. Stars Jack Lemmon, James Garner (just for laughs)
17. Gattaca (1997) – Dir. Andrew Niccol. Stars Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman
18. Wag the Dog (1997) – Dir. Barry Levinson. Stars Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman
19. Amistad (1997) – Dir. Steven Spielberg. Stars Anthony Hopkins, Matthew McConaughey
20. Anna and the King (1999) – Dir. Andy Tennant. Stars Jodie Foster, Chow Yun-Fat.
21. Hotel Rwanda (2004) – Dir. Terry George. Stars Don Cheadle
22. The Last King of Scotland (2006) – Dir. Kevin Macdonald. Stars Forest Whitaker.

 

Academic Expectations

• Attendance and Tardiness: Students are expected to attend class regularly, having completed the reading assignment that is to be covered that day and ready to participate in the discussion of it. You cannot do well in this class if you are not in attendance and familiar with the reading. Students who arrive late or leave early will be recorded as absent. A student who misses seven class periods for any reason will be academically withdrawn from the course with a grade of “AW” recorded on the transcript (calculated as an F in the GPA). Students who are academically withdrawn from a class will receive no refund of any fees to which they may otherwise be entitled. Absences due to personal emergencies may protect the grade students earn in a course but it does not extend the number of days they are allowed to be absent. Students should guard their days carefully. Note: In classes that meet once a week, the maximum number of days a student can be absent for any reason is three. In classes that meet twice a week, the maximum number of days absent is six.

• Advice:
  • Guard your six allowable absences tenaciously. No one plans to get sick and few expect a relative to die. But you can ration your allowable absences so that such expected developments do not deprive you of your accomplishments and your investments this semester.
  • Plan to arrive at school at least 15 minutes before classes begin for you. This is a good life-habit to develop now. In this way, if you are delayed, for example, by a slow elevator you will not use up one of your six allowable absences.

• Dress Code: “Professional or professional-casual attire is required for class attendance… A professional or professional-casual look necessarily eliminates from the list of acceptable clothing such items as jeans, T-shirts, shorts, unprofessional clothing, non-religious headwear, detracting accessories or haircuts. Under “detracting accessories,” I include any form of face piercing, excessive “earringage” on women and any earring on a man.

• Classroom Conduct: The classroom is a learning environment. Recognition of the student-teacher relationship as well as mutual respect without which there can be no discussion are essential for maintaining that environment.
  • Food – Food in the classroom ranges from a Snickers™ bar to a rotisserie chicken dinner. The former may be eaten discreetly without distracting the class; the latter is Boorish inconsideration. Use your judgment. Anyone exercising bad judgment will be asked to leave and will be marked absent. (See “Attendance and Tardiness.”)

• Use of technology in the classroom:
  • Laptop computers – Because there are so many who cannot resist the temptation to IM, surf the web, check e-mail and/or play video games during class, the use of laptop computers by students will not be permitted in the classroom. In addition, cell phones must be turned off while class is in session.
  • Cell phones: Turn off or otherwise silence your cell phone before to the start of the class. This is basic etiquette in a wide range of social settings (church, theatre etc.). Anyone disrupting the class with a ringer will be asked to leave and will be marked absent. (See “Attendance and Tardiness.”)
  • PowerPoint – I will be using PowerPoint in order to outline the lectures, but you are responsible to fill in information from the lecture and discussion under those headings. For pedagogical reasons, I will not be posting PowerPoint files for you to access. The presentations are an in-class teaching aid.

 

Grades and Grading:

• Submitting papers – I require both an electronic copy and a paper copy. If I do not receive both of these, I cannot give you a grade.

• Late papers – I will deduct one grade fraction (B  B-) for each day that a paper is late. After one week, I will no longer accept the paper. It will receive an automatic F (0%).

• Extra Credit – I do not give extra credit. You have many and various opportunities to demonstrate your understanding of the material. Take these opportunities seriously.

• Rounding Up – You are not entitled to having your grade “rounded up.” For example, 79.8% is not 80% and is thus still a C+.

• Irrelevant considerations – DO NOT talk to me about any scholarship you have that could be affected by your grade in this course. Of course, I would be sympathetic. But that is precisely the problem.

• Exams: The usual restrictions, including no headphones and no breaks, not even for the bathroom. Once the exam has started, no one is allowed to leave the room without submitting his or her exam.

 

Honor Code Policy:

Love for the truth and its attendant virtue, trustworthiness, are of the highest importance in an academic institution and especially in a Christian community. Accordingly, as the college policy states, “Each student should do all that is possible to avoid even the hint of any violation of academic honesty. If a student is in doubt, the best policy is to ask a faculty member for advice.” (Academic Catalogue p.58)

• Plagiarism – When writing your papers, make sure that every sentence and phrase is yours. If not, make sure that it is in quotation marks and the source properly cited. You need to conscientious about this because I will be conscientious about checking. The first offence will receive a failing grade for the paper, the second offence a failing grade for the class and the third offence expulsion from the college. I reserve the right to expel a student from the course for a particularly egregious offence. Every instance of plagiarism will be reported to the Dean of Students.

 

Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance:

Every student in the academic realm deserves fair and equal treatment regardless of disability. In order to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and to provide the best possible learning environment for students, any individual with special needs (i.e., lecture materials, testing procedures, etc.) should see the instructor within the first week of the term to discuss such matters.

In all things, remember: This is a mission driven school. Your success is our success. I am here to serve you and to help you develop and succeed. I invite you to make the fullest possible use of me and of what I can provide you.