Percy Jackson and the Problem of Western Civilization

Chris Gehrz at Anxious Bench, Patheos.

"After the United States entered World War I, the federal government asked Columbia College to develop a curriculum that would teach student-soldiers the civilizational stakes of the conflict between the Western powers and Germany. ... After the Armistice, Columbia turned that 'war issues' course into one on 'peace issues.' Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West debuted in the fall of 1919: a two-semester course required of new students and taught by historians, philosophers, and social scientists. ...

"In 1920 [John] Erskine introduced 'General Honors,' a new course on the 'enduring mind' of the West. ...

"Controversially, Erskine argued that such masterpieces of Western literature should be approached directly, with teaching focused not on understanding historical, biographical, or other context, but on the questions raised by the texts themselves. ... Their meaning was changeable, for the 'great books are those which are capable of reinterpretation, which surprise us by remaining true even when our point of view changes.' ...

"One of the young scholars who taught General Honors with Erskine was Mortimer Adler, who went on to teach a Great Books seminar at the University of Chicago (which continues to feature Greek writers like Homer, Sophocles, Plato, Herodotus, et al.) and then edit the Great Books of the Western World series for Encyclopedia Brittanica. While criticized by members of what the late Harold Bloom called the 'School of Resentment,' that canon has had remarkable staying power. According to the Open Syllabus Project, Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, and Homer remain among the thirty most-assigned authors at colleges and universities around the world. ..."