Coming Online Events
One-day onsite seminar tuition is $125 per person. Any contribution above $125 is classified as a tax-deductible donation. Special events have differing tuition. Scholarships are available for teachers and students. Or, become a subscriber in the Community of Lifelong Learners for $40 per month for unlimited attendance at on-site and online events, or $25 per month for only online events.
Please inquire via email here.
Online Seminar Series
Greek Intensive - Section One: Gods and Epics
>> Cohort Two - Tuesday Evenings - November 17, 2020-February 25, 2021
>> Cohort One - Thursday Evenings - November 18, 2020-February 23, 2021
Isocrates, the Greek rhetorician, once remarked that what makes one an Athenian is not the blood that runs through one’s veins, but the ideas in one’s mind. How can we access this ancient world, with some aspects so foreign and others so familiar, and discover foundations that changed the trajectory of civilization. This series is developed in four sections: 1) Gods and Epics, 2) Tragedy and Comedy, 3) Philosophy, 4) History. Attendees will gain a deep understanding of Greek life through some of its greatest authors, and will be better able to see the profound influence the Greeks have had on the entirety of the west and the world.
All reading materials (in English translation) will be supplied and sessions will be facilitated by tutors experienced is shared inquiry and the Socratic method. Groups will be limited to 12 participants and no prior knowledge is required. The Four-Month Weekly Series is $600 and is not included in the recurring subscription package. Payment options are available.
EVENT SOLD OUT
Online Seminar
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
Saturday, January 23, 2021
“The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.”
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutors:
Anika Prather and Paul O'Reilly
Please email the Agora Foundation if you would like to attend a second future offering of this event.
Online Seminar Series
Thucydides - The Peloponnesian War - Book Eight
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Is there an art to writing and reading history? Is a detached view of historical events desirable, or even possible? What does this conflict (431-404 BC) in particular have to teach us. This series will cover all eight books over time, with one two-hour online seminar per book.
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
David Appleby
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar
Free Community Seminar Series
Eastern Classics
Next session Thursday, January 28, 2021
Like the west, the east has its own tradition of influential texts that address the perennial questions of human kind. Centering around the bodies of work from China, Japan, and India, this series will focus on the texts of Taoism, Confucius, Buddhism, and Hinduism. We invite you to join us.
The January 28 reading is:
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad -
Part II, Chapters 5, 6; and Part III, Chapters 1, 2
Click here to access audio recordings
and translations of reading.
Schedule:
12:00 - 1:00PM PST
Location:
Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Ocean and Underworld -
Selections from The Aeneid by Virgil
Saturday, January 30, 2021
What mysteries are hidden underwater and deep in the underworld? Will one who explores these realms discover ancestors, gods, monsters,... or even oneself? This series will consider the ocean and the underworld as depicted in these classic literary texts.
January 30 reading:
Virgil, Aeneid - Books 3, 4, 5, 6
Future Readings in the Series:
Dante, Inferno (selections)
Cervantes, Don Quixote - The Cave of Montesinos
Shakespeare, The Tempest
Melville, Moby Dick (selections)
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
Elizabeth Reyes
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar
Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot
Sunday, January 31, 2021
“For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.”
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
Barry Rabe
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar
Free Community Seminar Series
The Foundations of Our Republic, Take II
Monday, February 1, 2021
What are the fundamental principles of our Republic? Are these principles based on a view of objective reality/nature, or simply the "consent of the governed"? Depending on how one addresses the previous question: Are these principles changeable, and if so on what grounds? How should one read the founding documents? What authority does the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary branches have? What are rights? Are they based on nature or consent? Are they inalienable?
The February 1 reading is -
The Bill of Rights, Amendments IX, X
Click the icon to download.
Schedule:
5:30 - 6:30PM PST
Readings in the series:
Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, selected Federalist Papers, selected Anti-Federalist Papers, the U.S. Constitution, selections from Democracy in American, Dred Scott Decision and Dissenting View (edited), selected Lincoln speeches, Lincoln Douglass Debates (edited), Plessy v. Ferguson and Dissenting View (edited), Brown v. Board of Education, Letter from Birmingham Jail, Proposed Equal Rights Amendment, UN Declaration of Human Rights
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Words of Divine Love in the
Medieval East & West - Part III
From the Songs to Zion and
Where Will I Find You by Yehudah Halevi
and Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward by John Donne
Saturday, February 6, 2021
"I sought your nearness / With all my heart I called you /
And in my going out to meet you / I found you coming toward me"
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
Zoe Appleby
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Epistemology - Part I - Meno by Plato
Sunday, February 7, 2021
What can we say we know with certainty? What does it mean to say that we know something? How do we know that we know? How does knowledge differ from belief? This series will include works from Plato, Aristotle, Empiricus, Descartes, Hume, Nietzsche, Russell, Popper, and others.
February 7 Reading:
Meno by Plato
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutors:
Carol Seferi and Andy Gilman
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Anguish and the Absurd - Part VI
The Master and Margarita (in four parts)
by Mikhail Bulgakov
Saturday, February 13, 2021
This series will explore the troubling world of the absurd through the writings of Kafka, Gogol, Camus, Sartre, Borges, Beckett, Bulgakov, and others.
February 13 Reading:
Book One, Chapters 1-9
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutors:
Paul Herder and Andy Gilman
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Beloved, Jazz, and Paradise by Toni Morrison
Sunday, February 14, 2021
Beloved is the first of three novels about love and African-American history. Morrison said that they are intended to be read together, explaining, "The conceptual connection is the search for the beloved – the part of the self that is you, and loves you, and is always there for you." In 1993, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
February 14 Reading:
Beloved, pages 1-86
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
Patricia Locke
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Shakespeare's Henriad Tetralogy
Saturday, February 20, 2021
"Let the end try the man. Thus we play the fools with the time, and the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us."
February 20 Reading:
Henry IV, Part Two
Readings in the Series:
Richard II
Henry IV, Part One
Henry IV, Part Two
Henry V
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
Eric Stull
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
The Wisdom of Humor - Part III
Sunday, February 21, 2021
Many of truth is spoken in jest.
February 21 Reading:
Selections from Twain and Wilde
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Readings in the Series:
Clouds by Aristophanes
A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare
On Lying by Twain and Wilde
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Carroll
A Modest Proposal by Swift
Speech on Slavery by Douglass
Selected TED Talks by Emily Levine
Tutor:
Karl Haigler
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Herodotus - The Histories - Book One
Saturday, February 27, 2021
Known as the Father of History, Herodotus offers a detailed record of his inquiry on the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars. In his account there are also many strange stories, myths, and folk-tales, causing even his contemporary critics to find his account too fanciful. Thucydides described Herodotus as a primarily a storyteller. Still, a large portion of the information Herodotus provides has been confirmed by historians and archaeologists. Join us for this series as we delve into history, story, legend, and humanity.
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
David Appleby
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Stoicism - Part IV -The Encheiridion (Handbook)
by Epictetus
Sunday, February 28, 2021
This series explores to varied aspects of Stoicism through the writings of Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. How best to live life, in the best and worst of times...
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
Kevin Walker
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Lunchtime with Ulysses by James Joyce
Chapter One: Telemachus
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
(The series will take place the first
Wednesday of each month)
Ulysses is considered among the most important works of modernist literature and one of the greatest literary works in history. The book chronicles the appointments and encounters of Leopold Bloom in Dublin in the course of an ordinary day, June 16, 1904. Ulysses contains structural correspondences between the characters and experiences of Bloom and Odysseus, Molly Bloom and Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus and Telemachus, in addition to events and themes of the early 20th-century, Dublin, and Ireland's relationship to Britain. Because of the book’s complexity and use of allusion, we will also slowly work through a study guide - Jame Joyce’s Ulysses - A Study by Stuart Gilbert. We invite you to join us on this long lunchtime journey as we slowly and carefully work through Ulysses, one chapter per month.
March 3rd Reading:
Part I - Introduction (in its entirety) and Part II - Telemachus of Jame Joyce’s Ulysses - A Study
and Telemachus of Ulysses
(Please note, this initial reading is longer so give yourself enough time. Future readings are typically much shorter.)
Schedule:
12:00-1:30PM PST
Tutor:
Barry Rabe
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Greek Intensive - Section Two: Tragedy and Comedy
>> Cohort One - Thursday Evenings - March 4-June 3, 2021
>> Cohort Two - Tuesday Evenings - March 9-June 8, 2021
Isocrates, the Greek rhetorician, once remarked that what makes one an Athenian is not the blood that runs through one’s veins, but the ideas in one’s mind. How can we access this ancient world, with some aspects so foreign and others so familiar, and discover foundations that changed the trajectory of civilization. This series is developed in four sections: 1) Gods and Epics, 2) Tragedy and Comedy, 3) Philosophy, 4) History. Attendees will gain a deep understanding of Greek life through some of its greatest authors, and will be better able to see the profound influence the Greeks have had on the entirety of the west and the world.
All reading materials (in English translation) will be supplied and sessions will be facilitated by tutors experienced is shared inquiry and the Socratic method. Groups will be limited to 12 participants and no prior knowledge is required. The Four-Month Weekly Series is $600 and is not included in the recurring subscription package, but subscribers receive a $100 discount. Payment options are available.
Online Seminar Series
Shakespeare's Henriad Tetralogy
Saturday, March 6, 2021
"Every subject’s duty is the king’s, but every subject’s soul is his own."
March 6 Reading:
Henry V
Readings in the Series:
Richard II
Henry IV, Part One
Henry IV, Part Two
Henry V
Schedule:
10:00AM-12:00PM PST (please note earlier time)
Tutor:
Eric Stull
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Ocean and Underworld -
Selections from Inferno by Dante
Saturday, March 6, 2021
What mysteries are hidden underwater and deep in the underworld? Will one who explores these realms discover ancestors, gods, monsters,... or even oneself? This series will consider the ocean and the underworld as depicted in these classic literary texts.
March 6 reading:
Dante, Inferno - Selections
Future Readings in the Series:
Cervantes, Don Quixote - The Cave of Montesinos
Shakespeare, The Tempest
Melville, Moby Dick (selections)
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland
Schedule:
12:30-2:30PM PST (please note revised time)
Tutor:
Elizabeth Reyes
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Beloved, Jazz, and Paradise by Toni Morrison
Sunday, March 7, 2021
Beloved is the first of three novels about love and African-American history. Morrison said that they are intended to be read together, explaining, "The conceptual connection is the search for the beloved – the part of the self that is you, and loves you, and is always there for you." In 1993, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
March 7 Reading:
Beloved, pages 87-158
Schedule:
10:00AM-12:00PM PST (please note earlier time)
Tutor:
Patricia Locke
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Le Morte d'Arthur - by Thomas Malory - Book One
Sunday, March 7, 2021
"In the midst of the lake Arthur was ware of an arm clothed in white samite, that held a fair sword in that hand." Join us as we move through these 15th century prose tales of King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table.
Schedule:
12:30-2:30PM PST (please note revised time)
Tutor:
Zoe Appleby and Andy Gilman
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Anguish and the Absurd - Part V
The Master and Margarita (in four parts)
by Mikhail Bulgakov
Saturday, March 13, 2021
This series will explore the troubling world of the absurd through the writings of Kafka, Gogol, Camus, Sartre, Borges, Beckett, Bulgakov, and others.
March 13 Reading:
Book One, Chapters 10-18
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutors:
Paul Herder and Andy Gilman
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Epistemology - Part II -
Selections from Republic by Plato
Saturday, March 20 2021
What can we say we know with certainty? What does it mean to say that we know something? How do we know that we know? How does knowledge differ from belief? This series will include works from Plato, Aristotle, Empiricus, Descartes, Hume, Nietzsche, Russell, Popper, and others.
March 20 Reading Selection (Allan Bloom Translation):
Republic by Plato:
Book V pp. 153-161 (473d-end)
Book VI pp. 186-192 (506b-end)
Book VII pp. 193-214 (beginning-535a)
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutors:
Carol Seferi and Andy Gilman
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Love - Gunnar's Daughter by Sigrid Undset
Saturday, March 27, 2020
Othello said about himself that he “loved not wisely but too well.” It seems that one can love things too much, but can one really love someone too much? Does the answer to that question depend on what is meant by love? Perhaps more fundamentally: are there different kinds of love? This series will devote itself to a discussion of the mystery and majesty of love.
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Readings in the Series:
Plato, Symposium
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (Bk. 8 and 9 edited)
Aquinas, Selections
Shakespeare, King Lear
Sigrid Unset, Gunnar’s Daughter
Dostoevsky, A Gentle Creature
Ibsen, A Doll’s House
Flannery O’Connor, The Lame Shall Enter First
C.S. Lewis, Four Loves
Tutor:
Paul O'Reilly
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Herodotus - The Histories - Book Two
Sunday, March 28, 2021
Known as the Father of History, Herodotus offers a detailed record of his inquiry on the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars. In his account there are also many strange stories, myths, and folk-tales, causing even his contemporary critics to find his account too fanciful. Thucydides described Herodotus as a primarily a storyteller. Still, a large portion of the information Herodotus provides has been confirmed by historians and archaeologists. Join us for this series as we delve into history, story, legend, and humanity.
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
David Appleby
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.