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The depth and beauty of the great books reveal themselves
The depth and beauty of the great books reveal themselves
when you slow down to give them the time they deserve
when you slow down to give them the time they deserve
2026 Seminars begin in January!
2026 Seminars begin in January!
Mondays
Mondays
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
Descriptions | Register
Tuesdays
Tuesdays
Borges, Short Stories (new)
Tuesdays, January 2026 3:00-4:30 pm ET
Seminar Leaders: Reynaldo Miranda & Miryam Bujanda
Herodotus, Histories (continued from 2025)
Tuesdays, January 2026 8:00-9:30 pm ET
Seminar Leader: Eric Stull
Newman, Idea of a University, Part II - University Subjects (new)
Tuesdays, January 2026 9:00-10:30 pm ET
Seminar Leader: Reynaldo Miranda
Descriptions | Register
Wednesdays
Wednesdays
Plato, Republic (continued from 2025)
Wednesdays, January 2026 8:00-9:30 pm ET
Seminar Leaders: Eric Stull & Reynaldo Miranda
Shakespeare, Sonnets "Read Aloud" (new)
Wednesdays, January 2026 4:30-6:00 pm ET
Seminar Leaders: Reynaldo Miranda & Tim Pabon
Shakespeare, Henry V (new)
Wednesdays, January 2026 2:00-3:30 pm ET
Seminar Leader: Eric Stull
Descriptions | Register
Thursdays
Thursdays
Aristotle, Politics Books V-VI
Thursdays, 2:00 pm EST
Seminar Leader: Reynaldo Miranda
Exodus (continued from 2025)
Thursdays, January 2026 8:00-9:30 pm ET
Seminar Leaders: Reynaldo Miranda & Jason Happel
Descriptions | Register
Fridays
Fridays
Famous Poems Revisited (6 sessions)
Fridays, February 13-March 20, 2026 4:30-6:00 pm ET
Seminar Leader: Jason Happel
Descriptions | Register
Sundays
Sundays
Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War (new)
Sundays, January 4-March 22, 2026 11:00 am ET
Seminar Leader: John Samples & Jason Happel
Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed
Sundays, January 2026 10:30-11:55 am ET
Seminar Leader: Jess Joseph
Descriptions | Register
You may register for a program until the day before it begins (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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