Comments on: What Does a Great Books Education Lack?

By: Silas

Silas — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:17:25 +0000

I’d give anything if I could start a school like the one in the French countryside that is mentioned in the book.

By: Joseph Patterson

Joseph Patterson — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:33:48 +0000

Sorry,I insulted Philip without meaning to.Yes, better to be a lover of horses rather than a lover of fat.

By: Aaron Taylor

Aaron Taylor — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:20:24 +0000

That’s too bad that you didn’t meet him! He is a riot. Well, I apologise if I was keeping him on the phone!

By the way, he spells it ‘Philip’. ‘Phil-ippos’ means ‘lover of horses’, while ‘Phil-lipos’ means ‘lover of fat’.

By: Joseph Patterson

Joseph Patterson — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:58:22 +0000

Yes, we attended Holy Trinity and Fr. John is a great priest. I had heard of Phillip and he actually visited Holy Trinity while I was there, but I didn’t get a chance to meet him because he always seemed to be talking to someone on his cell phone (maybe you).

By: Aaron Taylor

Aaron Taylor — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:00:49 +0000

Oh, okay. One of my best friends, Philip Navarro, was at SJC Santa Fe some years ago. He graduated in 2001, and Fr John Bethancourt at Holy Trinity is still his spiritual father.

By: Joseph Patterson

Joseph Patterson — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:45:48 +0000

I attended the Santa Fe campus in the summer and fall of 2007.

By: Aaron Taylor

Aaron Taylor — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:34:32 +0000

Thanks Joseph, that’s reassuring! When were you at SJC? Annapolis or Santa Fe?

By: Joseph Patterson

Joseph Patterson — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:21:57 +0000

Ha. One of my favorite tutors at SJC was a convert from the Episcopal Church to Orthodox Judaism. There are still some who are led to Catholicism or Orthodoxy through their reading of the Great Books at St. John’s. Fr. Moses Berry’s son attended St. John’s and I know many other Johnnies who have become Orthodox. I know of at least three Orthodox tutors at the Santa Fe campus. One of these tutors used to teach at Rose Hill College. SJC is an interesting place and if one is rooted in the Church one can still receive a good education there.

By: Aaron Taylor

Aaron Taylor — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:47:39 +0000

Thanks for the recommendation. Sounds great!

It’s too bad about the Nihilism among Johnnies. I suppose the days are past when St John’s consisted of ‘Jews teaching Protestants how to be good Catholics’.

By: Alamanach

Alamanach — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:09:43 +0000

I hadn’t heard of that book before coming across this blog post, but “Poetic knowledge” as described here sounds similar to the ideas Michael Schneider put forward in A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe.