Today marks the end of Finals Week at Milligan College. Students, at least those that survived, are headed home to enjoy a nice break from the academic grind. I spoke with one young lady who mentioned scoring a whopping 41 on one exam. Yikes! I never did that poorly, though I do remember one specific exam that made me wet my pants…
It was the end of my sophomore year at Milligan, our class was finally finishing the gauntlet of “Humanities”; a two-year, inter-disciplinary journey designed by Satan himself which studied western civilization from dawn until decadence. Humanities combined the disciplines of history, art, literature, music, theology, philosophy and architecture into one gigantic tour de force of western culture. It was both brutal and beautiful.
We embarked as freshman from the cradle of civilization, Ancient Mesopotamia. Here, we learned of Ziggurats, Cuneiform and the code of Hammurabi. From the Tigris and Euphrates, we made our way down to Egypt and the Nile and then back up across the Mediterranean to meet our new friends the Minoans, Mycenaeans and Greeks. Aristotle, Plato and Socrates taught us that reason and logic could supplant our ancient reliance on god while Protagoras announced that “man was the measure of all things”.
Alexander and the Greeks paved our Hellenic way from Persia to Rome. While in Rome, we did as the Romans by copying and stealing from our ancestors, via the Pardee Hall test bank. And yet, there may not be a Milligan student alive today that cannot tell the difference between Ionic, Doric and Corinthian columns. Yes, we’re that disturbed. We sailed through the Pax Romana and landed in Byzantium. However, the sun soon set on humanity as the Dark Ages closed in with every onslaught of Hun and Ostrogoth. Civilization hung in the balance as the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse spread famine, war, disease and death throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. It was left to Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire to set the world aright by bringing stability back to Europe. The thousand year reign of terror came to a close.
As students, our first year of intellectual exploration was coming to an end, but not before Renaissance and rebirth. Michelangelo, Raphael and Botticelli showed us through paint, oil, canvas and carvings that art expressed truth and beauty. Our journey ended in Germany, where on the eve of All Saints’ Day in 1517, an Augustinian friar hammered the nail heard round the world on the door of the church at Wittenberg Castle.
Oh, and the wetting of the pants part? Well, we’ll leave that part of the story to next time…
Before going, it wouldn't be Humanities without Sir Kenneth Clarke, our old dear friend with the wonderful lisp and the amazing ties! Enjoy Milligan folk!
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