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Life Worth Living is an initiative of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School.
St. Lawrence Univ EDUC 3083
Parents, Children, and the Life Worth Living
Jeff Frank is a professor of education at St. Lawrence University.
How do parents and children shape a life worth living? This course explores family, responsibility, and growing up across religious, philosophical, and contemporary perspectives.
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Parents, Children, and the Life Worth Living
EDUC 3083
St. Lawrence University
Taught by Jeff Frank
Course Description
In this course, we will reflect on leading a life worth living by thinking seriously about parents and children. The course will begin by looking at the Bible. We will begin at the beginning with Genesis, a book about (among many other things!) parents, children, and sibling rivalry. We will then explore these same themes in the Ancient Greek world, reading Sophocles’ Oedipus trilogy and psychoanalytic commentaries on this work. We will then turn to the Gospel of Matthew, exploring the birth and parents of Jesus (along with the idea of an adult becoming a child), putting the Gospel into conversation with Hannah Arendt’s thinking on natality and James Baldwin’s thinking on love. Next, we will turn to Confucian and Daoist perspectives on parenting before ending with contemporary parenting advice. Finally, we will think about the social implications of our thinking. What policies do we owe parents and children, and does a society have an obligation to promote a life worth living for every child born into the society? The course has no prerequisites. Students will be expected to read challenging texts and be open to exploring the continuing significance of these texts, especially when we may find them most confusing or difficult.
Required Texts
Oedipus Trilogy
The Fire Next Time
The Emotional Lives of Teenagers
Little Sprouts and the Dao of Parenting
Parents, Children, and the Life Worth Living
EDUC 3083
St. Lawrence University
Taught by Jeff Frank
Course Description
In this course, we will reflect on leading a life worth living by thinking seriously about parents and children. The course will begin by looking at the Bible. We will begin at the beginning with Genesis, a book about (among many other things!) parents, children, and sibling rivalry. We will then explore these same themes in the Ancient Greek world, reading Sophocles’ Oedipus trilogy and psychoanalytic commentaries on this work. We will then turn to the Gospel of Matthew, exploring the birth and parents of Jesus (along with the idea of an adult becoming a child), putting the Gospel into conversation with Hannah Arendt’s thinking on natality and James Baldwin’s thinking on love. Next, we will turn to Confucian and Daoist perspectives on parenting before ending with contemporary parenting advice. Finally, we will think about the social implications of our thinking. What policies do we owe parents and children, and does a society have an obligation to promote a life worth living for every child born into the society? The course has no prerequisites. Students will be expected to read challenging texts and be open to exploring the continuing significance of these texts, especially when we may find them most confusing or difficult.
Required Texts
Oedipus Trilogy
The Fire Next Time
The Emotional Lives of Teenagers
Little Sprouts and the Dao of Parenting
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