On January 12, students returned for the spring semester, eagerly anticipating the adventures that awaited them within and beyond the classroom.  Returning with them was Dr. Anthony Esolen who completed his first semester at Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts.  Dr. Esolen serves as professor and writer-in-residence, teaching in the college’s unique Humanities Sequence and...

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, Catholic Education gave to me … a complete education.   In thinking of this completion, two sets of twelve come to mind (in addition to the completion of the twelve days of Christmas). There are twelve points to the Apostle’s Creed, a complete articulation of the fundamental principles of...

In this series, “A More Complete Education,” we take up key authors, ideas, composers, and artists, who have contributed to the Catholic intellectual tradition and the patrimony of western culture. Topics related to this broad theme also find their place. Articles in this series introduce readers to subjects which are of interest to students from...

It happened in a classroom rather than a Church and it was caused by a man who had consigned popes, including the pope of his own day, to hell. It was the autumn of 1996 and I had enrolled in a course on Dante’s Inferno at a secular “great books” college. Little did I realize...

Magdalen College is delighted to welcome Dr. Erik van Versendaal to serve as a member of the faculty. Dr. van Versendaal–a graduate of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute at the Catholic University of America–will be among four new members of the faculty joining the college this year and will bring both extensive teaching experience...

Magdalen College’s curriculum has been awarded a “Perfect A Rating” from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA). This superlative rating places the college among only four Catholic institutions in the country and among a mere twenty-four of the over 1,100 colleges and universities evaluated in the nation. ACTA based its “A Rating” on...

Magdalen College is delighted to welcome Dr. Anthony Esolen to serve as a full member of the faculty and Writer-in-Residence. Dr. Esolen is a renowned scholar and translator of literature, and a prolific writer. The president of the college, Dr. George Harne, observed, “For the last two years, Dr. Esolen has been a friend of...

As part of their course in “Comparative Cultures,” the senior class visited Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.  With their tutor, Dr. Eric Buck, they explored the art of some of the cultures they had studied through their close reading and discussion of non-western texts.  As some of the seniors later expressed, this trip provided a concrete...

“Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do.”  ― St. Thomas Aquinas On Friday night, February 22, Dr. Daniel Offsay presented a talk on the “Fundamentals of Christian Formation According to Saint...

“We must be familiar with our own mythology, not only to understand our ancestors, but also to understand ourselves. Of course, for a contemporary person not familiar with mythology, just being told to read myths will not necessarily convince them of why it is important. They must encounter their living power through experience; they must...