Lumen Christi Institute

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Open to current graduate students at the University of Chicago. Participants can come to whichever sessions they choose. Others interested in participating should contact Rose Johnson at rodojo23@uchicago.edu. Books and drinks will be provided. 

What do choice and responsibility look like for the modern person? How much are individuals determined by their families, their societies, and their religions? What freedom can be found within or outside these relationships? James Joyce addresses these questions and many others in his collection of short stories, Dubliners. 

Though rich and nuanced like all of Joyce’s writing, these short stories present a straightforward introduction to Joyce’s writing style and to modern literary concepts of meaning. Join us at Gavin House on Thursdays at 8pm for drinks and conversation as we venture into the complicated and tragic world of one of the 20th century’s most brilliant authors!

SCHEDULE:

This group will meet on Thursdays (beginning January 18th) from 8:00pm - 9:00pm over drinks.

• January 18: Introduction to Joyce and "Evaline" (5 pages)
• January 25: "After the Race"" (6 pages)
• February 1: "The Boarding House" (7 pages)
• February 8: "A Mother" (12 pages)
• February 15: "A little Cloud" (14 pages)
• February 22: "Grace" (21 pages)

A copy of Dubliners will be provided to all participants. The reading may be picked up at Gavin House (1220 E 58th street) during buisness hours at the start of the winter quarter.

The University of Chicago is famous for its graduate student reading groups, in which students pursue their own intellectual interests among friends in an informal setting. The Lumen Christi Institute supports this endeavor by sponsoring a number of graduate student reading groups each quarter. LCI provides space, hospitality, and books.

Reading groups cover the whole spectrum of ideas. Texts do not need to be explicitly Catholic, though we follow St. Paul’s injunction to attend to whatever is true, noble, right, admirable, and lovely (Phil 4:8). Groups follow LCI's guiding principles, which...

• Affirm the intellectual life as good in itself

• Ask questions animated by the principle that “all knowledge forms one whole”

• Transcend the ideological / political divide (i.e., programs should not be partisan in nature)

• Welcome religious perspectives as part of the intellectual life (i.e., programs need not be theological in nature but conversations should be open to religious insights) 

• Nurture friendships, to support the pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness (i.e., programs should have a social component)

This quarter the reading groups will cover: The American Gothic, James Joyce's Dubliners, Greek New Testament, and Latin Vulgate.