Hickory Humanities Forum*

May 20-23

THE EVENT
This the twenty-eighth annual edition of the Hickory Humanities Forum, is an offering of Lenoir-Rhyne College and its Lineberger Center for Cultural and Educational Renewal. It was begun in 1981 under the overall guidance of the late Sydney Harris, syndicated columnist and Great Books advocate, as an experience on the order of the Aspen Institutes.

The Hickory Humanities Forum is designed to recapture a spirit of learning that first got expression in Greece some 2,500 years ago when Socrates sat in the market place and discussed important matters of life with his fellow Athenians. The “new kind of learning” was continued by Aristotle as he strolled through the parks with his pupils – adults, not youths. They argued about the most “relevant” topics – justice and injustice, war and peace, happiness and unhappiness, how human affairs should be conducted. These discussions mark the beginning of a conversation which has echoed down the corridors of history.

During the event, you will attend five study sessions and a plenary session – not "classes" in the conventional sense. Adults cannot & should not be taught like children.

THE TEXTS
The Declaration of Independence- The United States Bill of Rights

The United States Constitution

The Ten Commandments Exodus 20 and The Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5-7

Letter from Birmingham Jail- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ecclesiastes