Dr. Brian Williams on "What is the Classical Tradition?"

Classical Education

About the Guest

Dr. Brian A. Williams is Dean of the Templeton Honors College, Associate Professor of Ethics & Liberal Studies, and Dean of the College of Arts & Humanities. Before coming to Eastern, he was Lecturer in Theology and Christian Ethics at the University of Oxford and Director of Oxford Conversations, a collection of curated video interviews with leading Christian academics and scholars at Oxford.

He holds an MPhil and DPhil in Christian Ethics from the University of Oxford (UK), where he was a Clarendon Scholar; an MA and ThM in Systematic and Historical Theology from Regent College (Vancouver, Canada); and a BA in Biblical Studies from Ozark Christian College (Joplin, MO).

His current research examines the tradition of Didascalic Christian Humanism, focusing on the works of Hugh of St. Victor, Philip Melanchthon, and John Henry Newman. Dr. Williams’ broader academic interests include virtue ethics, Christian and Muslim political thought, Karl Barth’s theology and politics, classical education, and Dante Alighieri’s Commedia. He is the author of The Potter’s Rib: The History, Theology, and Practice of Mentoring for Pastoral Formation (Regent College Publishing); co-editor of Everyday Ethics: Moral Theology and the Practices of Ordinary Life (Georgetown University Press); and General Editor of Principia: A Journal of Classical Education.

Dr. Williams is also a National Alcuin Fellow and a Research Fellow with the Institute of Classical Education.

He is married to Kim Williams and has three children: Ilia, Brecon, and Maeve.

Show Notes
Wonder and great questions about Classical Education are beautifully described in this interview with Dr. Brian Williams. Adrienne Freas presents the questions that parents are asking. What exactly do we mean by the Tradition of Classical Education?

Some Topics and Ideas in this Episode Include:

• Frescoes can be used to vividly describe the Classical Tradition and why Classical Education is beautiful.
• The spirit of inquiry and how scholars benefit from an education rooted in questions
• Great questions bring about compelling conversations.
• How to find a classical school that reflects the Tradition?-- What are we looking for that reflects the tradition?
• What is beauty?-- How materials and culture provide a way to flourish as human persons

Resources Mentioned

Principia: A Journal of Classical Education: Volume 2, Issue 1, 2023: Editor's Introduction: Principia Tradition & Classical Education

Cair Paravel Latin School, founded in 1980
Templeton Honors College
The Great Books of the Western World

Raphael Frescoes discussed that are in the Vatican:

• Scuola di Ateni or School of Athens
• La Disputa or Disputation of the Holy Sacrament
• II Parnaso or Parnassus

Chris Hall (the bird expert)... here is the episode we interviewed him on in Season 1.
Kierkegaard
Dostoevsky
Poetic Knowledge by James Taylor
Divine Comedy by Dante

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

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