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“St. John’s College: A Year of Classics”
St. John’s seminars offer nine profound, rich, and resonant readings taken from the core of the college’s distinctive curriculum. The 2025–26 gathering of readings asks challenging questions. In the community of a discussion-based classroom, we study these texts and confront their questions together. We offer a once-a-month experience in the life of the mind, a true source of reward for the busy executive, stimulation for the artist, engagement for a parent, and all of these for those who are at work building our world on strong foundations.
2025–26 Theme: Solitude
Solitude is a paradox. It is a state that can be freely chosen or imposed against one’s will; it can be met with pleasure or through pain. For some, it is the necessary condition of a reflective life, while for others it is something to be overcome or resisted. Solitude can take place in genuine isolation or through a loneliness experienced even when surrounded by others. When should we seek solitude and when should we seek community? How do we find the balance? What are the rewards and the risks, what is the beauty and what is broken when we find ourselves truly alone?
Meet online or in person in Annapolis, Maryland; Washington, DC; or Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Reading List for 2025–26
September: Sophocles, Philoctetes
October: Ovid, Tristia
November: Kamo no Chōmei, Hojoki: A Buddhist Reflection on Solitude, Imperfection and Transcendence
December: Descartes, Discourse on Method
January: William Shakespeare, Richard III
February: Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
March: Emily Dickinson, The Poems of Emily Dickinson
April: Hannah Arendt, Origins of Totalitarianism
May: Toni Morrison, Jazz
Tuition
- In-person tuition for Year of Classics is $1,050 per individual seminar.
- The tuition for the Cosmos Club Section is $1,500, which includes pre-seminar gatherings with refreshments.
- Online tuition for Year of Classics is $850 per individual seminar.
- With proof of current employment as an educator, participants receive a fifty percent discount on seminar tuition. Discounts are available to the first 16 teacher registrants.