AN OVERVIEW OF WESTERN CIVILISATION:

'THE BEST THAT HAS BEEN THOUGHT AND SAID'

THE BANKSIA ROOM, ROYAL TASMANIAN BOTANICAL GARDENS, HOBART

8 - 12 JANUARY, 2024

The Dawson Centre was founded to advance the notion that the Christian Faith and the intellectual tradition that grew up with it are essential components of our civilisation, not optional extras, but core elements in the very fabric of the culture. Christopher Dawson maintained that a true human culture cannot exist at all without a religious component, and the Christian religion is inherent in and inseparable from our Western culture.

What are some of the great and distinctive achievements of the West?

We are offering this course for the third time as a sort of a ‘taster’, a broad and sweeping view of the terrain and some of its principal landmarks. It cannot claim to be any more than a sketch of the panorama, but we hope it will meet a need and inspire participants to delve further into our fascinating and rich heritage.

The instructors are Mrs Karina Hepner, Mr Xavier Young, Mr Alex Sidhu, Dr David Moltow and Dr David Daintree.

Where: The Banksia Room, Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, Hobart

When: Monday 16 January to Friday 22 January 2023

Time: 9.00 am to 3.00 pm each day for five days

Cost: $350 (concession available). This includes tea and coffee all day.

Several lunch options are available close by.

Registrations are essential: email director@dawsoncentre.org.

No accommodation is available at the Gardens but there are many options within a range of about two kilometres. Sites such as booking.com may be helpful.

THE PROGRAMME

There will be four lectures a day on each of the five days, from Monday 8 to Friday 12, starting at 9.00 am. There will be only one lecture after lunch each day, to free up the afternoons for private study.

Day 1 Introduction: Greece, Rome and the emergence of Modern Europe

Day 2 Philosophy: the European philosophical tradition is 'a series of footnotes to Plato’ (A N Whitehead)

Day 3 Four Literary Giants: Homer, Virgil, Dante and Shakespeare

Day 4 Theology: the study of ‘Our Deepest Source and Highest Ideal’ (St Augustine)

Day 5 The Arts of Man: Sculpture, Painting, Architecture, Music

All proceeds from this course go to the Christopher Dawson Centre (http://www.dawsoncentre.org).

For further information contact director@dawsoncentre.org.