From the time of its inception in 2020, the Albertus Magnus Institute has blessed many who are hungry for a liberal arts education. Setting out to make a liberal arts education accessible to all, we offer Great Books courses to adults from various walks of life and various educational backgrounds. These courses are live, online, and taught by some of the greatest minds in higher education– Drs. Anthony Esolen, Joseph Pearce, and Pavlos Papadopoulos, among them. Since 2020, we have offered 41 live courses that span from novels to Aristotle, logic to Euclid, from Shakespeare to Homer.
As a board member, Senior Fellow, and instructor for AMI since the first round of courses four years ago, I have seen personally the profound effects these courses have had on the Magnus Fellows, most of whom have never received a liberal arts education, and all of whom have joined us with a love of learning.
When the 2023 Academic year began in August, the Magnus Fellowship had 904 of these hungry fellows.
We offered ten courses this past academic year. Last fall we offered our first Latin course, Introduction to Ecclesial Latin with Father Peter Hannah; the third installment of Friendship and Freedom in the Lord of the Rings with Dr. Helen Freeh; Rousseau and the Moral and Diabolical Imaginations with Dr. Emily Finley, and my fifth philosophy course, Philosophy of Man.
Early 2024 we offered four new courses: Professor Cortright taught our first course on Ancient Greek; and Dr. Hattrup of Thomas Aquinas College taught his first course with us (but not a new topic for him!) on Aristotle’s Categories. We welcomed Drs. Amy and William Fahey from Thomas More College to our fellowship and they offered courses on War and the Great Books and Northern Literature, respectively.
Magnus Fellows were able to take part in these liberating courses at no charge to them. Stephen, who received a liberal arts education from Thomas More College said of the courses, “It has been far too long since I have been able to study, converse, and think deeply with a group on a single topic for an extended time. It was terrific fun and sorely missed. I’m glad that I get to do this without having to worry about school payments or stressful circumstances.” A large number of our fellows are like Stephen,— students who received a liberal arts education from a great books school and want to continue that education.
Though many of our fellows did receive a liberal arts education, an even greater number of them have come to us because, until now, they have missed out on the beauty of a freeing education. Raymond, who participated from the Philippines said, “It’s amazing how these AMI courses provide me the university education I wish I had, and I’m sure many of us feel the same!” And Claudia, who has taken six classes with us, does indeed feel the same: “Having received a public school education in a third-world country, learning all these things has enriched my life tremendously and filled in many educational gaps.”
But from the beginning, the goal has been to offer these courses in a coherent and complete curriculum as well as “stand alone” courses. Earlier this year another fellow, Joe, said, “When there are enough courses to run the curriculum in sequence, in record — or even, if we dream, to run it live in sequence or even in cohorts — what a powerful influence on culture and faith this can be.”
Our greatest success of the academic year was realizing this dream— a program that does just that— run the courses both in live sequence and in Cohorts. We launched this program earlier this fall and filled it with 26 registered fellows. For three years, students will meet once a week for eight weeks for four terms each year. In the spirit of 2 John, as friends who have become cooperators in a work of truth, fellows will complete a coherent liberal arts curriculum that will guide them toward becoming liberal artists.
Beginning this past September our first Cohort embarked on this three-year journey through the Trivium, Quadrivium, and Philosophical sciences utilizing the Great works of Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, St. Thomas Aquinas, and more. Through these texts these Cohort members will learn to contemplate the true, good, and beautiful in hopes that by the end of the three years they will be even closer to understanding the eternal Logos Himself. Dr. Hattrup and I are leading the Cohort during the first year, and we are presently closing our eighth week, having completed Homer’s Iliad, and just about to complete Homer’s Odyssey.
Our now 1,060 Magnus Fellows (Joe, Claudia, Raymond, and Stephen among them) have received different educations, have come from various parts of the world, and have joined the Fellowship for different reasons, but together they all believe in the value of a liberal arts education, and have come to the Albertus Magnus Institute to come one step closer to the truth that that sets us free. With God’s grace, we hope the coming year will continue to bless our fellows, new and old.