Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Contents Introduction On Reading Excerpts of Great Books Chapter One Homer Chapter Two Plato Chapter Three Aristotle Chapter Four Virgil Chapter Five Augustine Chapter Six Boethius Chapter Seven Thomas Aquinas Chapter Eight Dante Alighieri Chapter Nine Geoffrey Chaucer Chapter Ten Desiderius Erasmus Chapter Eleven John Calvin Chapter Twelve Edmund Spenser Chapter Thirteen Miguel de Cervantes Chapter Fourteen William Shakespeare Chapter Fifteen René Descartes Chapter Sixteen John Milton Chapter Seventeen Blaise Pascal Chapter Eighteen John Locke, Part One Chapter Nineteen John Locke, Part Two Chapter Twenty Isaac Newton Chapter Twenty-One John Wesley Chapter Twenty-Two Jane Austen Chapter Twenty-Three Alexis de Tocqueville Chapter Twenty-Four Karl Marx Chapter Twenty-Five Charles Darwin Chapter Twenty-Six Leo Tolstoy Chapter Twenty-Seven Fyodor Dostoevsky Chapter Twenty-Eight Friedrich Nietzsche Chapter Twenty-Nine G. K. Chesterton About the Author Translation Credits Contributors Start Reading © 2011 by John Mark Reynolds Published by Bethany House Publishers 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 www.bethanyhouse.com Bethany House Publishers is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan www.bakerpublishinggroup.com Ebook edition created 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. ISBN 978-1-4412-5990-5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible. The Internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence. Cover design by Chris Gilbert/Studio Gearbox Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Page Introduction: On Reading Excerpts of Great Books Chapter One: Homer Introduction • Selection from The Odyssey • Essay by Al Geier Chapter Two: Plato Introduction • Selection from the Republic • Essay by Gary Hartenburg Chapter Three: Aristotle Introduction • Selection from Nicomachean Ethics • Essay by Jeff Lehman Chapter Four: Virgil Introduction • Selection from the Aeneid • Essay by Jeff Lehman Chapter Five: Augustine Introduction • Selection from Confessions • Essay by Peter Kreeft Chapter Six: Boethius Introduction • Selection from Consolation of Philosophy • Essay by Michael Fatigati Chapter Seven: Thomas Aquinas Introduction • Selection from Summa Theologica • Essay by Peter Kreeft Chapter Eight: Dante Alighieri Introduction • Selection from the Divine Comedy • Essay by Anthony Esolen Chapter Nine: Geoffrey Chaucer Introduction • Selection from The Canterbury Tales • Essay by Diane Vincent Chapter Ten: Desiderius Erasmus Introduction • Selection from In Praise of Folly • Essay by Greg Peters Chapter Eleven: John Calvin Introduction • Selection from Institutes of the Christian Religion • Essay by Russell D. Moore Chapter Twelve: Edmund Spenser Introduction • Selection from The Faerie Queene • Essay by John Mark Reynolds Chapter Thirteen: Miguel de Cervantes Introduction • Selection from Don Quixote • Essay by RT Llizo Chapter Fourteen: William Shakespeare Introduction • Selection from Much Ado About Nothing • Essay by Melissa Schubert Chapter Fifteen: René Descartes Introduction • Selection from Meditations • Essay by Thomas Ward Chapter Sixteen: John Milton Introduction • Selection from Paradise Lost • Essay by Frederica Mathewes-Green Chapter Seventeen: Blaise Pascal Introduction • Selection from Pensées • Essay by Peter Kreeft Chapter Eighteen: John Locke, Part One Introduction • Selection (on Epistemology) from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding • Essay by Janelle Klapausak Chapter Nineteen: John Locke, Part Two Introduction • Selection (on Politics) from Two Treatises on Government: Second Treatise • Essay by Jamie Campbell Chapter Twenty: Isaac Newton Introduction • Selection from Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy • Essay by William A. Dembski Chapter Twenty-One: John Wesley Introduction • Selection from Sermons • Essay by Joe Henderson Chapter Twenty-Two: Jane Austen Introduction • Selection from Pride and Prejudice • Essay by John Mark Reynolds Chapter Twenty-Three: Alexis de Tocqueville Introduction • Selection from Democracy in America • Essay by Hugh Hewitt Chapter Twenty-Four: Karl Marx Introduction • Selection from the Communist Manifesto • Essay by Hunter Baker Chapter Twenty-Five: Charles Darwin Introduction • Selection from On the Origin of Species • Essay by Phil Johnson Chapter Twenty-Six: Leo Tolstoy Introduction • Selection from Anna Karenina • Essay by Frederica Mathewes-Green • Essay by Amy Obrist Chapter Twenty-Seven: Fyodor Dostoevsky Introduction • Selection from The Brothers Karamazov • Essay by John Granger Chapter Twenty-Eight: Friedrich Nietzsche Introduction • Selection from Genealogy of Morals • Essay by Fred Sanders Chapter Twenty-Nine: G. K. Chesterton Introduction • Selection from Orthodoxy • Essay by Dale Ahlquist About the Author Translation Credits Contributors
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