Welcome to St. Thomas More’s Utopia with Robert J. Conrad, Jr.

Thank you for enrolling in our four-week course on Thomas More’s Utopia.

In the past course on St. Augustine’s City of God, Robert Royal led a guided tour of two cities: the City of God, which participates in heavenly peace, and the City of Man, which prospers or not depending on its denizen’s ability to live in concord with each other.  More’s Utopia, written a millennium later, extends the conversation (literally in dialogue) as to what constitutes the ideal commonwealth. Written by More in mid-career, before service in King Henry VIII’s court, it posits all the right questions and offers some paradoxical answers. C. S. Lewis once quipped that all agree that Utopia is a great book, but hardly any two agree as to why. We will explore this great work’s themes, riddles, and meanings, hidden and otherwise.

For this course I recommend all students obtain a copy of the course book. We will be using the Cambridge Third Edition of Utopia. You may either access a free copy here or purchase a hard copy at Amazon.

Sincerely,

Robert James Conrad Jr.

Note: Music in video sessions is by Thomas Tallis.