# I'm headed to St. John's College (Annapolis)



## Anglicanorthodoxy (Apr 18, 2017)

I looked at a number of schools( Patrick Henry, Wheaton, Calvin, Hampden-Sydney, Grove City, University of Richmond etc) and after a lot of thought and prayer, I've decided to attend St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. It has an excellent reputation in academic circles. St. John's is one of the "feeder schools" for top PhD programs. It's a very unique school. There are about 400 students and there is a set curriculum for all 4 years( no majors, no departments, no picking and choosing courses) All courses are Seminar style( no lectures, only the Socratic method) The entire curriculum is centered around the "Great Books" of Western Civilization. Students study Western literature, history, philosophy, theology, and political theory, as well as Greek, French, Math, Science, and Classical music. The curriculum starts with the Ancients (Homer, Euclid, Plato, Aristotle, etc) in the freshmen year. Christianity is a huge part of the Sophomore year( the entire Bible is read, along with Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, etc) The Enlightenment is studied in the Junior year (Kant, Locke, Rousseau, etc) and the Senior year is spent studying the modern period( Marx, Nietzsche, Hagel, Darwin, etc) All of this is wonderful, but the school has some issues. It's utterly secular, and has a bit of a party culture. That being said, there are all sorts of students there. When I visited, I sat in on a seminar. The students had read a section of Dantes Duvine Comedy before the class, and were discussing it. The seminar began with the professor asking a question about the section of the book the students had been assigned. Several attempts were made at answering the question, and students and the professor continued asking questions and attempting to answer them until the seminar ended. I loved the Socratic style of the seminar. There were a variety of viewpoints on the questions. There are a good number of Christian( and Catholic) professors at the college. I had an interview with a professor who's a devout Traditional Catholic He told me that St. John's has students with all sorts of views (Liberals, Conservatives, Libertarians, Evangelicals, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Atheist, Agnostic etc) He said that while the students have very diverse views, they are able to co-exist and be friends with people who don't share their particular viewpoint.(he said that while the majority of students are Liberal, Right-wing views are welcome and tolerated) My tour guide told me the same thing. St. John's seems like a place where there is a true love for learning and freedom of thought. I'd certainly be in the minority with my views, but I don't think I'd be attacked and/or blacklisted because of them. I also observed a Euclidean Geometry course. They spent the entire class doing proofs out of Euclids Elements. I'll get an excellent classical education, but my faith will certainly be challenged. I wish there were a Reformed school like St. John's, but none exist. Please keep me in your prayers.

Reactions: Praying 1


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## Herald (Apr 18, 2017)

Khater, I don't know if there's an Anglican/Episcopal church in the Annapolis area that's faithful to the preaching of the gospel, but my former church is not far from Annapolis if you have a car. The church is Grace Baptist Church of Odenton. It is a Reformed Baptist church. If you're interested in visiting, let me know and I can send you the pastor's contact information. Here is the website: Grace Baptist Church of Odenton


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