Why should I organize a seminar around a theme like Hell?
Here’s why. We use few exclamations more often to capture the unfathomable, uncontrollable, disturbing, and terrifying dimensions of human experience. Hell is politics, war, religion, sports, jobs, personal relationships, and life itself—all combined! Thus, if we seek to
tackle big questions about humanity, Hell is a good place to start.
I once called this seminar “Ten Images of Hell in the Twentieth Century.” As we entered the 2000s, I asked myself whether there would be enough images to shift the course’s focus to the new century. I gambled, changed the course title, and have never looked back. When it comes to Hell, our Twenty-First Century may have already set a record. In a mere 24 years, images of Hell abound: the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, unrelenting dictatorship, liberal democracy in crisis, entrenched poverty in the US, the tragic movement of peoples over artificial state borders, man-made climate disaster, a pandemic that has killed more than 1.2 million human beings in the US alone, and rapidly escalating tragedy in the Middle East.
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.
Seminar Themes
In this seminar, we will explore our already troubled century of Hell by focusing on four themes:
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 ongoing war in Iraq (a quarter century after it began); existentialist Angst (in a world without God and in a world with God); technological dystopia; torture at Abu Ghraib; 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.
Nonetheless, my goal is not to bring you down. I come with good news: Our exposure to Hell on Earth should not be a recipe for pessimism or cynicism. As you will see, this course is also about Hope. There is no better place to think about Hope than at a Catholic university.
Seminar Goals
I have five equally important goals.
First, I will introduce you to some of the major political and social issues of our times.
Second, I shall introduce you to the four key concepts of the social sciences—description, explanation, analysis, and prescription.
Because this is a social science seminar, it is useful to keep in mind that we live at a strange time in world history. In our world, many people’s “feelings” have trumped their commitment to pursuing 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 want 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 have a mission. My mission is to challenge each of you to become leaders in whatever dimensions of life you choose to pursue. By virtue of your presence at Notre Dame, each of you is a member of the Ruling Class. Your good fortune comes with two weighty obligations. The first is to lead where other sit back and wait. The second, even more important obligation is to become a good leader. In the battle against Hell, good leaders affirm the intrinsic dignity of each and every human being.
Seminar Structure
I have designed this seminar 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, drawing upon 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. That would be sooo . . . . Twentieth Century.
The Syllabus you now see will likely be different tomorrow. Throughout the semester, I will modify our schedule and assignments on a regular basis. I will add some items and delete others. Thus, 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!