Phone: 240-895-2200
Kathy Grimes
Director, Office of Lifelong Learning & Professional Programs
Anthony Guzman
Coordinator, Office of Lifelong Learning & Professional Programs
The Grace and John Horton Explorations in Learning program offers opportunities for intellectual enrichment to the members of the Southern Maryland community. The following is a catalog of all the courses offered under the auspices of the program, either at the Asbury community in Solomons or the Wildewood Community Center.
The people who have lived in the region we now call Afghanistan have had a unique opportunity to view and to understand world history. Situated at the crossroads of the Eurasian continent, sandwiched between Iran (Persia), India, and Central Asia, and occupying the mid-point of the Silk Road, where the Road from India met the great east-west thoroughfare, people were able to see the world pass by. Never having been conquerors themselves, they have not tried to write history (only conquerors do that, and most do it badly), but they have continued to tell stories based on their experiences. In this series of courses we will try to capture some of those experiences and imagine their impressions of the world. The events will be historical but the narrators and their family/friends will be fictional.
The arrival of Alexander linked Afghanistan with the world to the west of Persia; Alexander’s successors maintained this link, and shortly thereafter the Silk Road trade established a link with China and India. Afghanistan became a center of world exchange in goods and ideas, and made it possible for the people of Afghanistan to have a view of World History. This included the origins of the Afghans with their existence between Persia and India, the impact of Greek and Buddhist civilizations on the continent, and the new challenges of Christianity. It is this evolving view that will be discussed in this course.
Professor Frank van Aalst
Asbury Spring 2008
From 700 – 1700 the new religion of Islam gradually came to dominate Afghanistan and most of Asia outside of China. Participation in this culture changed the way Afghans viewed the world. Outsiders from Central Asia came to rule Afghanistan, culminating in the Mongol destructive conquests. Subsequent invaders recruited Afghans to join in the conquest of India. Within Afghanistan new tribal groups rose in the south and by the end of the period were dominant. This course will discuss these changing views of the world.
Professor Frank van Aalst
Asbury Fall 2008
As the British Empire expanded in India and the Russian Empire expanded in Central Asia, Afghanistan again found itself surrounded and infiltrated by competing world empires. A nation is born, and the outsiders are defeated, but the independence and stability of the country are difficult to maintain. Again the Afghans have an exceptional vantage point from which to view world history and interpret world affairs. This course will focus on a description of that view.
Professor Frank van Aalst
Asbury Spring 2009
This course focuses on the role of American political parties in the electoral process – and addresses the questions whether the ideals of U.S. democracy are being served. A short review of the changing history of political parties will enable us to better understand the nature and function of political parties in 21st century America. An understanding of how political parties do, and do not, influence the conduct, outcome and consequences of elections will help to explain why we “get” the government and policies that we do. Finally, a look at potential reform of the party/electoral system, including voter participation, campaign finance, providing better choice for voters and the style of political campaigns, will enable each of us to become better participants in the democratic process.
George Sparling, J.D.
Wildewood Fall 2008
For several years, Robin Bates of the St. Mary’s English Department has been writing a book designed to make classics of British literature accessible and relevant to contemporary readers. If these works are timeless, he argues, it is because they still speak to the deepest issues that we face, giving us a profound understanding of our problems and providing us with powerful solutions. Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Dr. Fausus, for instance, give us ways for handling death, while Geoffrey Chaucer and Jane Austen provide invaluable relationship advice. A draft of Dr. Bates’s book, which includes lot summaries and enjoyable reflection exercises, will form the foundation of the course. If participants can read the books to be discussed ahead of class, they will get the most out of the course, but Dr. Bates will teach it in such a way that even those who just show up can follow along.
“Of arms and the man I sing.” So begins the Roman poet Vergil’s Aeneid, the unfinished Latin poem that became the great epic of the people of Rome. It has stood for centuries as a monument to the Romans’ language, religions, and their honor, tragedy, and war. The Aeneid has also inspired generations of poets to find whether warfare, and those who fight in it and are destroyed through it, may be well-remembered in story or in song. This series will address this topic as expressed in different time periods.
In this course we will trace the effects of warfare and religious sensibility through the poetry of three modernist poets—Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, and David Jones. Each poet’s work was decisively impacted by the Great War (World War I). Taken together, their poetry reshaped how English-language readers could justify and sustain vigorous religious belief and an authentic comprehension of human suffering and evil in the wake of that war. Writing in the midst of a devastated Europe descending into further horrors in their own lifetimes, these poets reworked poetics, religions, and mythologies in order to make them adequate to this task.
Dr. Christopher Wilkins
Wildewood, Fall 2008
An introduction to the principles of foreign relations and diplomacy established by the United States at it founding and during its early years, and their development in the 19th century. The changes brought about in the 20th century as the United States increasingly becomes a major player in international affairs.
Professors L. Tom Stevens and Herb Winnik
Asbury Fall 2005
This course is intended both as an orientation for persons planning to go on the venture to the Silk Road in October and as a virtual experience for those unable to join the trip. The vast expanses of Central Asia were crossed by merchants with their caravans of camels for two thousand years, linking the major civilizations, creating lands of great wealth and adventure and facilitating the exchange of ideas that have influenced the course of history. Most of the emphasis will be on the China portion of the road which crosses vast expanses of desert and lands now inhabited by Central Asian peoples, mostly Muslim, who resist Chinese rule. Many of the old trading centers are rich in archaeological finds, long buried in the sands, which illustrate the spread of Buddhism.
Professor Frank van Aalst
Asbury, Fall 2007
The executive branch of the Federal Government as it exists today is a combination of the definition contained in the Construction and the experience acquired in the nation’s history since 1789. This course will begin with a consideration of the constitutional provisions establishing the Presidency and will proceed on a historical journey to examine how the exercise of presidential responsibilities through time has further shaped the nature of the office as we perceive it in our own time. In considering this issue we will focus on the major forces influencing Presidential leadership – politics, economics, personality, foreign affairs, etc.
Professors Michael Cain, Todd Eberly, Tom Stevens
Asbury Fall 2007
Wildewood Spring 2008
It is increasingly important, as China’s economic and political power increase in the world, that Americans understand the people with whom we interact in the workplace, in the marketplace and at the bargaining table. This course will address the diversity which the Chinese inherit from their cultural history. Topics will include Land and People. Grand Public Works, System of Government, the Arts, Science and Technology, and Social Stability.
Professor Frank van Aalst
Asbury, Spring 2006
Wildewood, Spring 2008
China’s history during the time that Europe became modern is a dramatic account of success and failure before the contemporary success that places it in the ranks of the superpowers. This course will consider that history, including topics such as China’s Response to the West, Attempts at Reform, the Communist Experiment, After Mao, America’s Workshop and Current Conditions.
Professor Frank van Aalst
Asbury, Spring 2006
Wildewood, Spring 2008
The ancient culture that developed in the Indian subcontinent was contemporary with the civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia, and produced distinctive expressions in all aspects of society: social, political, philosophical, economic, technical, etc. These characteristics continue to impact India today. This course will consider the most outstanding of these features. Topics will include the Indus Valley Civilization, The coming of the Aryans, the Beginnings of Hinduism, the Buddha and his followers, Classical Art, and Successive Invaders. It will conclude with the Muslim Empire in India.
Professor Frank van Aalst
Asbury Fall 2006
Wildewood Fall 2008
India today is the world’s largest democracy, founded in 1950 after obtaining independence from the British Empire. This course will briefly describe the years under the British and then summarize the developments in government, society, culture and economy that have resulted in the thriving India of the 21st century.
Indian National Congress and Gandhi
Professor Frank van Aalst
Asbury Fall 2006
Wildewood Fall 2008
Our concern in this course is to understand better what an artwork is, how it affects us, how it is to be interpreted, and how it is to be evaluated. We will take examples primarily from painting as bases for our reflections and discussion. But this is not a course in art history or criticism. We will deal instead with issues that are foundational to these disciplines. We will discuss and try to formulate tentative answers to these questions: What do we contact besides the material object when we are perceiving a work of art? Is it best understood as in some way rendering what is true and important about the world? Or is it something of only personal or subjective significance? In any case, what is the best account that can we give of our perception and understanding that artworks have on us? What role do historical conventions play in our experience of artworks?
Professor Alan Paskow
Wildewood, Spring 2008
Each class session will introduce the basic beliefs and practices of one of the the world’s major religions. Brief selections from each religion’s sacred or foundational writings will be provided in order to examine the different conceptions of the world and paths towards human fulfillment, transformation and redemption. Each class session will focus on one of the following belief systems: Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism.
Professors from the St Mary’s College Philosophy and Religious Studies Faculty
Asbury, Spring 2007
© 2007, St. Mary's College of Maryland | Privacy | Copyright Notice | Contact Us
St. Mary's College of Maryland
18952 E. Fisher Rd
St. Mary's City, MD 20686-3001
240-895-2000