Here’s why. We use few exclamations more often in response to the unfathomable, disturbing, and terrifying dimensions of human experience. Hell is everywhere–in politics, war, religion, sports, jobs, personal relationships, and life itself. If we want to talk about humanity, we can’t get around the subject of Hell.
I once called this seminar “Ten Images of Hell in the Twentieth Century.” As we entered the 2000s, I wondered if there would be enough images to shift the course’s focus to the new century. I gambled, changed the course title and the readings, and have had no reason to look back. This has been great for me. Too bad for humanity.
I define our Twenty-First Century as the period from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 to the current day.
In a mere 24 years, images of Hell abound: the bloody war between Russia and Ukraine; rising threats of dictorship everywhere; liberal democracy spiralling into crisis; unrelenting poverty and increasing social stratification in advanced democracies, and especially the US; the tragic movement of peoples over artificial state borders; man-made climate disaster; a pandemic that killed more than 1.2 million human beings in the US alone; and the rapidly escalating war and humanitarian crisis in the Middle East.
Seminar Themes
We will explore our troubled century of Hell by focusing on four themes:
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- The experience of Hell
- The causes of Hell
- The consequences of Hell, and finally,
- Our moral obligation to others who are suffering through Hell
To address these themes, we will turn to ten contemporary images of Hell: America’s continuing engagement in Iraq; existentialist Angst (in both a world without God and a world with God); technological dystopia and technodictators; torture at Abu Ghraib prison, Iraq; the moral bankruptcy of utilitarianism; eviction from hearth and home; the “devil’s highway” of migration to the US; pandemics of death and denial; our willing destruction of our natural environment; and life on the edge in war-torn Ukraine.
You will see that our journey is about much more than our ten topics. It is about us: our lives and the lives of billions of other people who live with us in a world that is as unstable as it has ever been in past centuries.
YET: I do not aim to bring you down. I come with good news. We must not allow our exposure to Hell on Earth to become a recipe for pessimism or cynicism. As you will see by the end of this semester, this course is also about Hope. There is no better place to think about Hope than at a Catholic university. Indeed, no secular university can accomplish what we will do in this seminar.
Seminar Goals
I have five equally important goals.
First, I will use the concept of Hell to introduce you to some of the major political and social issues of our times.
Second, I will introduce you to the four key concepts of the social sciences—description, explanation, analysis, and prescription.
Because this is a social science seminar, you should keep in mind that we live at a strange time in world history. In our world, populist leaders have convinced many people to think that their “feelings” should trump scientific truth.
Third, I will work with each of you to develop your reading, writing, and speaking skills. There is nothing easy about these skills. I, for one, am still working on each of them.
Fourth, I aim to teach you how to persuade. Life is all about persuasion. We are single beings within a universe of other single human beings. Each of us–both the most downtrodden and the most privileged–has the capacity to persuade others that we have something to offer. If we are indifferent–which is one of the greatest sins–we will be lost in the haze.
Finally, I am on a mission. My mission is to challenge each of you to become a leader in whatever dimensions of life you choose to pursue. By virtue of your presence at Notre Dame, each of you is now a member of the Ruling Class. Your good fortune comes with two weighty obligations. The first is to learn to be a leader while others sit back and wait. The second is to become a good leader. In the battle against Hell, good leaders affirm the intrinsic dignity of each and every human being. They refuse to compromise. They are beacons of hope.
Seminar Structure
I intend to challenge you both intellectually and personally. To avoid being left behind, you must keep up with all of your assignments. I expect each of you to participate fully in everything we do. This includes speaking in class, citing your readings, communicating with your classmates over media like Google Docs, and most importantly—daring to think for yourself.
You are now looking at the authoritative syllabus for our seminar. I do not use paper syllabi in my courses. Killing trees is sooo . . . . Twentieth Century.
I will modify our schedule and assignments on a regular basis throughout the semester. I will add some items and delete others. You should consult these pages routinely to see what I have changed and what new assignments you need to complete.
NOTE: Please leave your technology at home. This includes electronic devices of any kind, such as laptops, Kindles, iPads, iPhones, video cameras, video games, dog fences, and other personal digital devices. I will make one exception to this rule. You may use a tablet, but only if you confine yourself to taking notes.
My class is a no-‘X,’ no Musk zone. Some behavior is just not dignified!