Sign up for awesome summer courses!

Dear Readers of The Oddest Inkling:

I know for sure that if you read this blog with any kind of regularity, you are the sort of person who would love courses at Signum University. They are lively, engaging, highly-intelligent courses that combine rigorous academics with serious fun and love of literature. They often interact with popular culture in the smartest possible ways, as if Shakespeare were Game of Thrones. Which, really, if you think about it, he kind of was.

This summer (starting next week!), we’re offering three fantastic classes–fantastic in at least two senses. They’re awesome, and they’re about fantasy literature, speculative fiction, mythology, and classical languages.

And there are three different levels of participation you can choose from, so these aren’t just for those who want to pursue an M.A. with Signum (although of course if you are interested, talk to me!!). You can:
1. Take a course for credit towards a Master’s degree;
2. Enroll as a discussion auditor and participate in the live, small-group discussion sessions but not write papers or take exams; or
3. Audit the class, listening to the lectures (live or recorded), just for your own personal enrichment.
Whichever you choose, you’ll get world-class lectures on life-changing topics!

This summer’s three classes are:

The Inklings & Science Fiction

Taught by the famous Douglas A. Anderson, author of The History of the Hobbit.

Of the various men in the writer’s group the Inklings who met in Oxford primarily during the 1930s and 1940s, two achieved world renown with their writings: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Both had a strong interest in the developing field of science fiction. This course covers the Inklings’ creative and personal encounters with science fiction.

Mythologies of Love and Sex

Taught by the brilliant newcomer Brenton D. G. Dickieson, scholar who discovered a fascinating new connection between The Screwtape Letters and the Ransom Trilogy, author of the popular blog A Pilgrim in Narnia.

This course explores some of the great mythologies of love that provide a background to today’s culture, sketched out along the twin paths of C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves and a chronological development of the ideas of love.

Elementary Latin II

The second semester of “Elementary Latin” will complete your introduction to the basic elements of the Latin language. It will emphasize the fundamentals of grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. The course is open to all students who have completed Signum University’s Elementary Latin I or a comparable introductory course in Introductory Latin at another institution.