What's the Point of Reading “Great Books”? A Lesson from the Middle Ages


“For over 1,000 years of the Western tradition, up to the dawn of printing, reading great books meant training for reading the Scriptures, not because the clergy did not want people thinking for themselves – remember, we are also told that the clergy didn’t want the laity even reading the Scriptures, which raises the interesting question of who was buying all those books – but rather because they wanted people to grow in virtue and wisdom through engagement with the living Word.”

Transcript of my lecture for the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation. Given August 14, 2019, in Sydney, Australia. Full text at ABC Religion & Ethics.

For my continuing adventures as a conservative in academia, see MedievalGate.

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