New Course for Fall 2025
Localism, Good Work, and Technological Society
Today each of us is forced to confront fundamental questions about how to live on a daily basis: technology is reaching into ever more remote corners of our lives, and at the same time there is increasing interest among Christians in reconnecting with the land as the source of our material life, finding good work, and living locally. How should we think about these issues as Catholics? What challenges or dangers does technology pose? How do we raise our children, find good work, live in touch with nature, eat well, cultivate real friendships, and live as disciples in the midst of it? This course draws on Scripture, Catholic social teaching, as well as authors such as Wendell Berry, Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, Ivan Illich and others, to explore these questions.
Co-taught by Colin Miller (Ph.D., Duke University) and KC Flynn (Baylor University). Register Below.
When and Where
Thursdays, Oct 2-Dec 11, 2025 5:30-7p (No class on 10/9 or 11/27)
Assumption Church, St. Paul
Print and distribute the event flyer here (8.5x14).
Weeks, Texts, and Lectures
Oct. 2 Miller, "Thinking Christianly about Technology"; Lecture: "Christianity on One Page"
Oct. 7 No class, no readings, but attend William Cavanaugh lecture, 6:30pm, at Assumption.
Oct. 16 Miller, "Technology and the Fragmentation of Society"
Oct. 23 Wirzba, "Why Agrarianism Matters - Even to Urbanites," Agrarian Reader. Watch Food, Inc.
Oct. 30 Berry, "Agricultural Crisis as a Crisis of Character," and "Agricultural Crisis as a Crisis of Culture"
Nov. 6 Miller, "Cult, Culture and Cultivation", "A Philosophy of Labor," and "Chickens, Gardens and Dumpsters," in We Are Only Saved Together.
Nov. 13 Miller, "The Agrarian Heart of the Catholic Worker Movement"
Nov. 20 Illich, Selections from Tools for Conviviality (Handout)
Nov. 27 Thanksgiving - No class. Reading: "Summary of MacIntyre After Virtue," first half.
Dec. 4 "Summary of MacIntyre After Virtue," second half. Discussion: After Virtue, Localism, and Christian Community.
Dec. 11 Berry, "Two Economies." Concluding discussion and reflections.
*All of the course readings are available in one document here.