The Modern Scholar: Hebrews, Greeks and Romans: Foundations of Western Civilization

by Timothy B. Shutt

Our purpose in this course will be to examine the foundations of Western civilization in antiquity. We will look at the culture of the ancient Hebrews, of the ancient Greeks, and of the Romans, and we will likewise look at how these cultures interacted with each other, sometimes happily, sometimes not.

In the process, we will focus on how the questions they addressed and the answers they found live among us and continue to shape our lives to this very day. For in a very real sense we are all of us, as participants in Western culture, Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans still.

Genres: History, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Greece, Literature

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

For eighteen years Professor Timothy Baker Shutt has taught at Kenyon College in rural Gambier, Ohio, famed for its splendid teaching, for its literary tradition, and for its unwavering commitment to the liberal arts. No teacher at Kenyon has ever been more often honored, both by the college and by his students, for his exceptional skills in the classroom and as a lecturer. Professor Shutt’s courses in Kenyon’s interdisciplinary Integrated Program in Humane Studies and in the Department of English alike are always heavily oversubcribed, and he lectures on Homer, Plato, and Aristotle, the Bible and the Greek historians, Virgil and Dante every year to a packed house.

Shutt is a native of Ohio, raised in Michigan and schooled in Connecticut, where he was honored as an All-American swimmer during his high school years at the Hotchkiss School, and devoted much of his time to drama. He majored in English as undergraduate at Yale (’72). After three years at St. Mark’s School of Texas, where he taught English and History---and coached swimming---Shutt went on to graduate school in English, specializing in medieval literature and the history of ideas at the University of Virginia as a du Pont Fellow. After earning his Ph.D. in 1984, Shutt spent two further years at Virginia as Mellon Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, and took a position at Kenyon in 1986, where he has taught happily ever since, deeply enjoying his contacts with his students and the peaceful life of the Ohio countryside.

Reviews

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved listening to these lectures while driving. professor shutt is a great lecturer and easily kept me entertained and interested. The lectures talk about the ways in which the Hebrews Romans and Greeks provided the foundations of western thought, and I personally found many of his insights to be true. Highly recommend this course for exciting history lessons and further understanding of our own culture.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this on a lark, from the library. They have a number of these "Modern Scholar" and other brands of "lectures on disk". This one looked interesting. And was. The lecturer came across well, pretty animated considering the subject matter. I'll definitely check more of these out, and would certainly listen to the lecturer again.

There were some technical problems, perhaps my fault. I either got an entire disk repeated, or at least some tracks. And it appeared the final lecture was not actually even provided. Bummer. Again, may have been my fault, will check more closely next time, for this brand of lecture.

Listened to this while in the car, like I have been with other audio books lately. Rip all the disks to iTunes, export them all as MP3s to a CD, stick it in the car audio deck (which handles disks of MP3s), and I have hours of listening without switching disks, and remembering to turn off the iPod when I get out of the car, etc.

[John Betts · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest, the first part of Shutt's lecture was a bit lacking in my view. I've heard better lectures on the Hebrews from others. However, Shutt took on quite a task in trying to show how these 3 ancient cultures developed, interacted with one another and were slowly brought together in laying the foundations of the Western civilization we know today. In that he succeeded quite admirably and this lecture was overall very thought-provoking and well worth listening to.

[John Hiller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Professor Shutt delivers again! His audio lectures through The Modern Scholar are always captivating. and greatly informative. His informal and down-to-earth tone feels like we're sitting in a tavern somewhere, but the knowledge and insight is extraordinary. I look forward to listening to his other lectures in the very near future.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent series of lectures on the intellectual history of antiquity. Shutt is a lively and provocative lecturer. He attempts to demonstrate how these ideas have interacted and been synthesized. The accompanying book explains his ideas in depth.

[Aaron Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hebrews

Monotheism
Righteousness
Compassion
Chosenness - divinely sanctioned mission
Teleological sense of history
Reverence for law
Book-centered culture


Greeks

Rationality: metaphysics, logic, science, ethics
History as intellectual system
Art
Human-centered rather than God-centered
Excellence (arate)
Competition (agon)
Politics - democracy
Warfare - citizen-soldiers fighting as one


Romans

Communal ethic - for the good of the group
International - non-racist, multi-ethnic, tolerant
Technology, engineering

[Hank Pharis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Timothy Shutt is a very good lecturer. Interestingly he argues that Christianity assimilated the best elements of the belief systems of the Hebrews, Greeks and Romans.

(Note: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book. 3 = Very good; 4 = Outstanding {only about 5% of the books I read merit this}; 5 = All time favorites {one of these may come along every 400-500 books})

[Eugine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Hell of a fun listen, even if don't know know much about history. It was a splendid listen... Might listen to it again actually

[Coyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent lecture series! This guy also has a series with The Teaching Company (Masterpieces of Medieval Literature) so you know he's a good lecturer. He walks through four aspects of Western Civilization in roughly chronological order: Hebrews (the Old Testament); Greeks (The Iliad, Odyssey, tragedy, Plato and Aristotle, Neo-Platonism in Plotinus); Romans (Virgil, Ovid, law and order, technology); Christianity (the New Testament and Augustine). The series ends with the conclusion that Western Civilization as it exists today is heavily the result of the early Medieval combination of these four strands of thought. Especially interesting was how he pulls a handful of ideas from each civilization and points out where they have become (almost unconsciously) accepted in our society today:
From the Hebrews: the idea that there's a problem inherent in human nature (sin) and the idea that the solution to the problem comes through a covenant.
From the Greeks: the idea the man is historical in nature (that is, he changes and advances over time, rather than just always being stuck in the same cycle, as Eastern thought suggests), but also that man needs something more than historical progression to hold on to, he needs something transcendent and lasting.
From the Romans: the idea that what man needs comes through the society, rather than through the virtuous individual, and that society should be an ordered, law-based, and technological one.
From the Christians: the idea that man can't solve his own problem, but needs God to save him, and that the means of this salvation is the Hebraic covenant made personal for bad people. Likewise, the ideas of charity, mercy, and humble kindness, as opposed to the Greek and Roman ideas of proud greatness.

And excellent lecture series, given by an excellent lecturer.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The professor's diction sounds just like my father's, who talked at length about all topics. The Foundations of Western Civilization makes connections and progressions in philosophy and influence of three people: The Jews, the Greek, and the Romans. I see now that all three influence my thinking, beliefs and ethics.

[Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent survey of ideas that form the foundation of western thought. Enjoyable, engaging lecturer... but I thought it was quite brief even for a survey class. I have had deeper experiences with survey classes from The Teaching Company but this was still far better than anything I could have heard on the radio... even NPR!

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a good enough course but not outstanding. The teacher provides lots of summaries of works. I think I would have liked it if he had been more engaged in interpreting the place of the three cultures to produce Western civilization. It wasn't quite what I was looking for.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will definitely seek out more lectures by Dr. Shutt. His enthusiasm for his subject comes through l,oud and clear and he is easy to understand. My only regret was that I couldn't ask a question about something he said! High recommendation!!!

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this lecture. Professor Shutt has a entertaining lecture style and he's able to speak off the cuff in response to questions with clarity.

[MEK · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is so exciting! I love this guy!

[Brian Ferrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction lecture. Professor Shutt expertly connects past and present civilizations and suggests a lot of further reading material.