Classical and Early Christian Studies Dept. Breathes Life into Classics
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Studying Latin, Greek, and Hebrew may not be everyone’s idea of a fun pastime, but more and more Christendom students consider the Classics major to be an attractive option. In 1994, Christendom established the Department of Classical and Early Christian Studies (Classics). The current Chairman of the department, Dr. Edward Strickland, notes that classics at Christendom introduces the student to the literature, language, history, and civilization of Graeco-Roman antiquity, as well as, to how classical civilization was transformed into Christendom. “While our courses examine authors and subjects that are typical elsewhere, our added focus means that we extend our horizons to late antiquity and the Middle Ages,” says Strickland, who holds a PhD in Greek and Latin from the Catholic University of America. “Our goal is to train Christian scholars who exercise discretion when they treat our secular heritage and reverence for our sacred patrimony, which is the Sacred Scriptures in their original languages, the writings of the Fathers of the Church, and the Magisterium in its definitive form.” Joining Strickland in the Classics Department this year is Dr. Mark Clark. Clark holds a PhD in Medieval History from Columbia University, as well as a JD from Duke. He brings a new perspective to learning Latin that is attracting the attention of the entire student body. He focuses on not only reading Latin, but speaking and even thinking in Latin.
written. It needs Latinists who can understand the Church’s past and culture and preserve it against any attacks.”
are required for the Classics major, including a Senior Thesis and a minimum of 21 upperdivision hours of Latin and Greek language.
Pope John XXIII’s Apostolic Constitution on the study of Latin, Veterum Sapientia, lamented the crisis in the knowledge of Greek and Latin among the clergy. The document said that Greek and Latin are “handmaidens” to disciplines like theology and philosophy.
“We can’t overestimate the value of a Classics major,” reads The Princeton Review’s website. “Check this out: according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, students who major or double-major in Classics have a better success rate getting into medical school than do students who concentrate solely in biology, microbiology, and other branches of science. Crazy, huh?
Christendom’s students majoring in Theology, Philosophy, or Classics must take two years of Latin, while those majoring in Political Science, History, or English Language and Literature may choose to study French, Spanish, or Latin. “What makes ignorance of classical languages so dangerous is that it could make mastery of Theology, for example, superficial because of limited contact with its authentic sources,” Strickland says. Christendom students performed well on the National Greek Exam last year—a significant number garnering awards for their performance, as has been the case for the last few years. “What made 2007 significant was that for only the second time, one of our students earned a perfect score,” Strickland said. Kathleen Gilbert, a Classics major, was one of two students in the entire country to earn a perfect score on the Homeric Greek exam. Thirty semester hours of advanced courses
“Furthermore, according to Harvard Magazine, Classics majors (and math majors) have the highest success rates of any majors in law school. Believe it or not: political science, economics, and pre-law majors lag fairly far behind. Even furthermore, Classics majors consistently have some of the highest scores on GREs of all undergraduates.” “It’s a great way to develop the mind,” Senior Classics major Catherine Trojack says. “In general, you have to have sharp mathematical and comprehensive skills. The classes are very challenging, but enjoyable. The professors really know what they’re doing and are very conscientious in helping me as an individual as well as my classmates. They make sure we really understand what’s going on and that we become independent Classical thinkers.” With such a strong Classics program at Christendom, many students still to come will be able to develop their minds in the classical tradition.
“There is an army of people studying Latin across the country,” says Clark. “But the basis for all this learning is 20th-century Latin books, which fail to instruct people how to speak and understand spoken Latin. The books have little hope of teaching people how to read or write Latin fluently.” According to Clark, the Church needs people to be able to understand, speak, and read Latin. “Latin for me has a special appeal because it is the language of the Church,” he says. “It is also the language of the Church’s literature for almost 2,000 years. The Church needs people who understand its language and who can read all the documents that have been
Classics Professors Fred Fraser, Mark Clark, and Department Chairman Edward Strickland.
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