Authentic Life 1A

FYSEMR 68N Subject & Catalog Number

Description

What is an authentic life? This seminar engages some of the most fundamental questions of human existence dialogically with selected ancient texts and the literary works of 19th and 20th-century authors often associated with the movement called “existentialism.” The seminar centers on unhurried reading, the sharing of diverse interpretations of seminar materials, and thoughtful conversations with peers about how to live an authentic life and encourage meaningful relationships. The seminar begins with careful reading of several works foundational to the arts and humanities: the early Socratic dialogues, The Books of Genesis and Job from the Hebrew Bible, and selected letters and gospels from the New Testament.

These texts are integral to modern responses to questions about how one finds meaning given current and complex challenges to claims about the nature of God, revelation, and the soul. Is religious faith compatible with an understanding of historicity, the rise of science, and the threat of nihilism? With a life of integrity, authenticity, and freedom? The texts and writing assignments in the seminar consider categories central to moral and religious discourse about how one ought to live. Authors including Kierkegaard, Thoreau, de Beauvoir, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Buber insist that the most profound questions are not abstract but rather engage life lived day to day.

NOTE: No background in religious traditions nor any faith stance is necessary or expected. The seminar includes a required trip to historic Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts, for a silent walk under the beauty of a New England autumn, following a reading of Henry David Thoreau's writings. All trip costs are covered by the First Year Seminar Program!