DAWSON CENTRE SUMMER SCHOOLS

JANUARY 2025

SUMMER SCHOOL - LATE AND ECCLESIASTICAL LATIN 

Monday 6 to Friday 10 January 2025 

Notre Dame Priory, Colebrook, Tasmania 

The Latin school assumes some prior knowledge of the language and leads participants through a selection of important readings in poetry and prose, sacred and secular, from authors such as Augustine, Jerome, Bede, Peter Abelard, Aquinas, the Carmina Burana, and even Dante.  In date our selections range from the poet Virgil to the abdication speech of Pope Benedict!  There will also be a segment on palaeography when participants can handle real medieval manuscripts.  Note that this course does not take any position on the use of Latin for Mass, but it recognises that Latin remains the official language of the western Church and acknowledges the insistence of the last four popes that Latin must be preserved!  Accommodation is available on request in the Priory grounds: apply directly to guestmaster@notredamemonastery.org.

SUMMER SCHOOL - BIBLICAL GREEK FOR BEGINNERS 

Monday 13 to Friday 17 January 2025 

Fr John Wall Community Library, 31 Tower Road (at the rear), New Town, Tasmania

The New Testament and Koine Greek school is for beginners who want to experience the excitement of reading parts of the Bible in the original language.  We shall read extracts from the Gospel and Epistles, as well as some important passages from the Septuagint (the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament), as well as some pieces from the early Fathers of the Church and the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. 

The summer schools are hosted by the Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies, based in Hobart, Tasmania. The Centre was founded to advance the notion that the Christian Faith and the intellectual tradition that grew up with it are essential components of our civilisation, not optional extras, but core elements in the very fabric of the culture. Website: www.dawsoncentre.org 

For booking details and enquiries, email director@dawsoncentre.org