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Symposium Institute 20th Anniversary Year
The depth and beauty of the great books reveal themselves
The depth and beauty of the great books reveal themselves
when we slow down to give them the time they deserve
when we slow down to give them the time they deserve
2026 Seminars begin in January!
2026 Seminars begin in January!
Mondays
Mondays
Euclid, Elements (new)
Mondays, beginning January 5, 1:30-3:00 pm ET
Seminar Leaders: Esa Palosaari & Eric Stull
Vergil in Latin, Aeneid, Book II (beginner)
Mondays, 7:00-9:00 pm ET
Seminar Leader: Eric Stull
Homer, Iliad (continued from 2025)
Mondays, 8:00-9:30 pm ET
Seminar Leader: Christian Blood
Nietzsche, On the Future of Our Educational Institutions (new 6 sessions)
Mondays, January 26-March 9, 8:30-9:50 pm ET
Seminar Leader: Jason Happel
Tuesdays
Tuesdays
Listeners' Studio: J.S. Bach (12 sessions)
Tuesdays, 12:00-1:15 pm ET
Seminar Leader: Jeff Johnston
Borges, Short Stories (new)
Tuesdays, January 6, 3:00-4:30 pm ET
Seminar Leaders: Reynaldo Miranda & Miryam Bujanda
Herodotus, Histories (continued from 2025)
Tuesdays, January 8:00-9:30 pm ET
Seminar Leader: Eric Stull
Newman, Idea of a University, Part II - University Subjects (new)
Tuesdays, January 9:00-10:30 pm ET
Seminar Leader: Reynaldo Miranda
Sterne, The Physiks of Tristram Shandy (new 6 sessions)
Tuesdays, January 27-March 3, 2026 7:30-9:00 pm ET
Seminar Leaders: JJ Patton and Denise Alquist
Wednesdays
Wednesdays
Plato, Republic (continued from 2025)
Wednesdays, January 8:00-9:30 pm ET
Seminar Leaders: Eric Stull & Reynaldo Miranda
Shakespeare, Henry V (new)
Wednesdays, January 7, 2026 2:00-3:30 pm ET
Seminar Leader: Eric Stull
Dante, Paradiso (new - new start date Jan 14)
Wednesdays, January 14, 2026 8:00-9:30 pm ET
Seminar Leader: Jeff Johnston
Thursdays
Thursdays
Archimedes, The Works of Archimedes (new)
Thursdays, January 8, 1:30-3:00 pm ET
Seminar Leaders: Esa Palosaari & Eric Stull
Aristotle, Politics Books V-VI
Thursdays, 2:00-3:30 pm EST
Seminar Leader: Reynaldo Miranda
Exodus (continued from 2025, ch 17-40, new readers welcome)
Thursdays, 8:00-9:30 pm ET
Seminar Leaders: Reynaldo Miranda & Jason Happel
Fridays
Fridays
Famous Poems Revisited (6 sessions)
Fridays, February 13-March 20, 2026 4:30-5:45 pm ET
Seminar Leader: Jason Happel
Free Workshop:
Shakespeare's Sonnets
(Learn rhythm, pitch, musicality, when reading aloud with voice actor Tim Pabon)
February 20, 6:00 pm
Sundays
Sundays
Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War (new)
Sundays, January 4, 2026 11:00 am ET
Seminar Leaders: John Samples & Jason Happel
Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed
Sundays, January 2026 10:30-11:55 am ET
Seminar Leader: Jess Joseph
Beginning Ancient Greek (new)
Sundays, January 11, 8:00-10:00 pm ET
Seminar Leader: Reynaldo Miranda
You may register for a program at any time (if it is not fully enrolled.)
All-Access registration includes all Symposium seminars each quarter.
We read and discuss compelling books -- including musical and artistic works -- in the spirit of collaborative inquiry.
Close Reading Seminars (books, mathematics, music)
Close Reading Seminars (books, mathematics, music)
(Ten to twenty-four weeks.) Close reading seminars are the heart and soul of Symposium. We sometimes call them "reading pathways" because a particular book (or collection of poems, essays, or musical pieces) can be a lighted pathway through a dark wood or out of a cave. It can be a sea journey back home (Homer's Odyssey) or a fantastic adventure out of the library into the world (Cervantes, Don Quixote). Books like Euclid's Elements, no less than Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Ethics, Thucydides's Peloponnesian War, Maimonides's Guide, Rousseau's Emile, Montesquieu's Laws, or Hegel's Phenomenology (to drop a few names) are curricular, or courses in themselves, and they take more than a few weeks to understand.
Shorter Seminars
Shorter Seminars
(Six session seminars for a lower cost) Short seminars are our lures, designed (a) to introduce a short work or poem, (b) to compare two works or authors, or (c) to touch on connections between a source-text and the branches that extend outward; for example, Shakespeare drawing on Plutarch.
Capable seminar leaders gently guide our discussions; thoughtful participants share in the inquiry.
Symposium Institute is supported by tuition and donations, which allows us to offer free programs regularly and keep the ship sailing.
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"It is difficult to get the news from poems, yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.”
William Carlos Williams
1883-1963, American Poet
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