New England Great Books Summer Seminar

For more than 20 years, Summer Seminars have allowed attendees to get a firsthand experience of the day-to-day life of Thomas Aquinas College students — the intellectual life, the spiritual life, and friendships rooted in a shared experience of the true, the good, and the beautiful. This summer the seminar will be offered, for the first time, at the College’s new campus in Northfield, Massachusetts.

As always, participants will read passages from the great books of Western civilization, then discuss those readings in seminars led by senior members of the teaching faculty. Together they will work to understand the meaning of the texts and to discern the truths these works contain. Between seminars, guests will also enjoy delicious meals served both indoors and outdoors, as well as daily Mass and confession offered by the College’s chaplains.

The theme for this year’s weekends will be “The Search for Happiness.” Attendees will discuss Gustav Flaubert’s “A Simple Heart,” Epictetus’ Manual, and St. Thomas Aquinas’ consideration “Of Those Things in Which Happiness Consists” from the Summa Theologiae.

This year’s weekend, taking place from June 21-23, will also be the first ever held on the New England campus, set in Western Massachusetts’ historic Connecticut River Valley. Over the course of the three-day weekend, participants will attend a series of discussions led by President Michael F. McLean, Vice President Paul J. O’Reilly, and the associate dean for the New England campus, Dr. Thomas J. Kaiser.

With the New England residence halls still under renovation, guests will stay in a nearby hotel, but they will spend their days and take most of their meals on campus. The price, including lodging, dining, seminars, and readings, is $1,200 per person or $1,800 per couple (discount for President’s Council members: $950/single and $1,450 couple).

To register, please e-mail or call Patti Harmonson,
special events coordinator, 805-421-5929.