Some Suggestions...

[jayfromcleveland]

Hi folks, I've been autodidactically pursuing a classical education ever since taking Latin in college in 1983. I was overjoyed when we started homeschooling and discovered Memoria Press and everyone else in Christian Classical Education. Being a little ways down the road myself, please let me offer some suggestions to other adults seeking to "rebuild the ruins" of their own public school educations:

Ancient History Through Primary Sources (http://tinyurl.com/hqy2c) by the Bluedorns
This is a great resource for getting started in the classics, for students and their parents alike. The Bluedorns have done all the heavy lifting in preparing an outline of primary sources of ancient secular and sacred history, through the Fall of Rome. Their book includes a CD set that has PDF and HTML versions of public domain English translations of the courses. Though the set is pricey, it's worth its weight in gold. Follow the link to check out the reviews at Amazon.

"How Should We Then Live" by Francis Schaeffer. In this book, Schaeffer brilliantly compares Christian thought to secular philosophy down through the centuries. He shows how all the greatest accomplishments of western history have sprung from persons have an abiding faith in Christ, and how the decline of our culture directly follows the rise of secular humanism.

In general, I'd recommend to anyone that they pick an area of interest -- personal or professional -- and begin reading a classic from that subject area. One will quickly see that with classical literature, all knowledge is interrelated. Whatever the entry point -- science, literature, economics, etc. -- one is not many steps away from other subjects.

Hope that helps. -jay

[JasonAlexander]

Hi Jay,

thanks for the post,
How about religious material in Latin, how much is there to read besides the Latin vulgate. and would this area of study be worthwhile to persue a better understanding of religion historicaly.

blessings,
Jay (lol, my real name is Jason but i use Jay for short on internet)

[geekchic9]

How about religious material in Latin, how much is there to read besides the Latin vulgate. and would this area of study be worthwhile to persue a better understanding of religion historicaly.


Yes, there are a lot of religious works in Latin written by the saints of the early church. St. Augustine's City of God and St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica were both written in Latin. There are a lot more Christian Latin texts (http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/christian.html) at The Latin Library (http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/index.html). All texts on this site are in the public domain.

HTH!

Geekchic9

[barbara914]

Hi Jay,

Thanks for the suggestions. You make me think I'm the the right track because "How Should We Then Live?" by Schaeffer was already in my Amazon shopping cart. I'll check out "Ancient History from Primary Sources."

Are you familiar with Louise Cowan's "Invitation to the Classics"? It was recommended as a very good overview of the western classics from a Christian perspective.

Cheers,
Barbara

[Melime]

Hi Jay

It's good to hear that what we're attempting isn't impossible, that someone has done it before. I would love to hear more about the things you've done to educate yourself. I find other people experiences very motivating (as well as just fascinating).

I also found your comment about how all classics lead to the others very encouraging. Sometimes I worry about what I should do first, what is 'best', but I don't think that's really the problem to worry about.

Melime