Great Works & Authors

Buber teaches us that we cannot exist in isolation, knowing only an environment full of objects; we must live in relationship to others to truly live.

True education is not directed toward enabling students to be successful in society, but rather toward forming them into virtuous human beings who are equipped to live well.

The importance of pseudo-Dionysius lies not in his exposition of the geometries of creation, but in his mystical theology, which contextualizes all our knowledge in the mystery of what transcends knowledge.

Sophocles wants us to learn that in the face of suffering, the question of what it means to be human is not being posed to the one who suffers, but to those whose lives are comfortable and pleasant.

If a liberal education claims to introduce students to great works of literature, history, philosophy, and religion that they might not take up on their own, to help prepare them for a lifetime of learned reading, the works of J. R. R. Tolkien certainly merit inclusion.

Reading Tacitus doesn’t just help students understand historical events; it helps them understand the culture of the time through one of its own citizens, speaking across two millennia.

Thomas Jefferson is known most famously as the author of the Declaration of Independence. Hypocritically, he was also the owner of more than six hundred enslaved people. His behavior towards his fellow human beings cannot be ignored. The question is why we should still read his writings. The answer is that their impact not only on the history of our nation but on the shape of the modern world cannot be denied.

Søren Kierkegaard is an obscure author to most people. Even many scholars only have a cursory knowledge of the 19th-century Danish philosopher. So why should Kierkegaard be placed on the CLT Author Bank with the likes of Augustine, Dante, and Kant? And why should students in classical academies be well-versed in his thought?

America is increasingly divided. We would do well to hold out the great artistic works of our heritage as one means of forging a greater common ground on which we all can stand. No work in the American canon is more important to that task than Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

The Classic Learning Test is shaped by the philosophers, scientists, historians, and poets. Nowhere is this more evident than in our author bank. Though no list could be exhaustive, the authors that form the basis of our test material represent some of the finest thought and artistic expression in our culture.