Advanced Formation
Summer Webinar Series
2022
“So many books, so little time…” Have you felt it, too? Has your Must Read list mounted ever higher as the busyness of the school year wipes out your leisure time? Are you worried the summer might pass by without the refreshment of serious, engaging reading? Our Advanced Formation Summer Webinars will ease you into the reading mood.
ICLE is pleased to offer this free series of refreshing and thought-provoking sessions to nurture true leisure in the teachers we serve. Enjoy short readings and discussions on topics from civil rights to the Passion to the origins of modern science, illumined by passionate teachers like yourselves. Registration is now open.
All sessions will begin at 1 pm Pacific Time unless otherwise noted.
June 22: “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Dr. Arthur Hippler
June 29: The Gospel Accounts of the Passion, David Shaneyfelt, Esq.
July 6: Poems – Keats and Shakespeare, Dr. Travis Cooper
July 20: Genesis 1-3, Charles Goodwin
July 27: No More Words: Selections from Bacon’s New Organon and Descartes’ Geometry, Dr. Andrew Seeley
August 3: Don Quixote, Erick Allen
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June 22: “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
America was founded as a nation of ideals — “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This talk will use Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” to describe what was unique about these ideals, and the challenges they face in the modern world.
Suggested Reading: “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
Dr. Arthur Hippler is Chairman of the Religion Department at Providence Academy. He is also Adjunct Professor in the St. Paul School of Divinity at the University of St. Thomas, and an instructor in the Harry Flynn Catechetical Institute for the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. He received his Doctorate in Philosophy from Boston College. He is the author of Citizens of The Heavenly City, A Companion to C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters and A Companion to C. S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce.
June 29: The Gospel Accounts of the Passion
The Trial of Jesus Christ – The four Gospels give us scant, but revealing, details into what is arguably the greatest trial in history. In this webinar, attorney Dave Shaneyfelt will show us how scholars have pieced together these details, against historical background, to give us a more complete picture of what happened at that trial.
Dave Shaneyfelt has been lecturing and writing on the Trial of Jesus for more than 20 years. He is a graduate of Thomas Aquinas College and Willamette College of Law, and he is among 5% of attorneys in Southern California recognized as a Super Lawyer.
July 6: Poems — Keats and Shakespeare
Most of us are deaf to poetry. This webinar will help us begin to open our ears through considerations of the use of tone, meter, imagery, theme, and plot by two great English poets.
Suggested reading:
Shakespeare – “Sonnet 73: That time of year thou mayest in me behold”
Keats – “Ode on a Grecian Urn”
Dr. Travis Cooper earned his associate’s degree at St. Mary’s College, his bachelor’s at the College of St. Thomas More, and his master’s and doctorate in philosophy at the Catholic University of America. He taught Philosophy and Classics at the College of St. Thomas More for a handful of years before joining the faculty of Thomas Aquinas College in 2012.
July 20: Genesis 1-3
Delve into the origins of the story of mankind during this presentation on the first three chapters of Genesis. We will meditate on the friendship of the Trinity, angelic warfare, and the many creatures of the visible universe, both humble and mighty, all of which have something to tell us about our own tremendous destiny.
Suggested Reading: Genesis Ch.1-3, RSV Translation
Charles Goodwin received his BA in classical Liberal Arts from Thomas Aquinas College in 2010, then spent seven years as a seminarian at St. Michael’s Abbey in Silverado, California. He continued his studies in philosophy and theology during this time, earning a second BA in Fundamental Theology from St. Phillip’s Seminary in Toronto. After leaving St. Michael’s in 2017, Charles taught for a year at St. Monica Academy in Montrose, California, then served as the Primary Dean of Libertas Academy until joining the ICLE Faculty in 2021.
July 27: No More Words: Selections from Bacon’s New Organon and Descartes’ Geometry
The classical trivium aimed to raise masters of words. Our era began with harsh critiques of the use of ordinary language as the medium of thought, and its replacement by technical language and symbols. Selections from Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes explain why and how this was accomplished.
Suggested reading:
Descartes – The Geometry opening
Bacon and Lavoisier on Words
Dr. Andrew Seeley has been a Tutor at Thomas Aquinas College in California for three decades. He received a Licentiate from the Pontifical Institute in Medieval Studies and a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from the University of Toronto. He has taught joyfully and extensively in all the areas of a Great Books Curriculum.
August 3: Don Quixote
Gurney Norman once said that “sanity is knowing what story you’re in.” Don Quixote, famously, lost his sanity by forgetting what story he was in, and only regained his rationality once he recovered his proper “nar-rationality.” In this webinar, we will explore this marvelous story about stories, and discover some of the reasons it remains both timeless and timely.
Erick Allen discovered the rich tradition of liberal arts education while in graduate school. Soon after, he entered the Church as an adult convert and spent six years assisting his public charter school in their transition to a more classical and humanizing model of education. Erick has more than 20 years of teaching experience in a variety of settings, including public and private schools, higher education, grades 7-12 and even in law enforcement. He has taught Latin, Medieval Literature, ESL and other subjects before joining the ICLE Faculty in 2021.