Course Description

What does it mean to be human in times of uncertainty and great change? Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) was a poet, critic, journalist, philosopher, and theologian. He lived in a time of social, political, and scientific upheaval—of wars in Europe, of science upending the understanding of nature and human origins, and of a loss of faith in the church as a cultural force for good. Amidst these dramatic shifts, Coleridge called for a greater vision of being human and to resist what he called “the dehumanization, brutalization, and mechanization of man.” It is a call that resonates today. Together, we will come to know Coleridge’s thought through his prose and poetry. In the first half of the course, we will cover key questions that guided Coleridge’s theology: Who is God? What is a person? What is nature? How do we live rightly with one another? In the second half, we will build on that foundation by reading Coleridge’s poetry. Here he personalizes his questions, leading us through instances of faith and doubt, sin and the possibility of redemption, and the destruction of creation and its restoration. In this way, we may learn to imagine a better way of being human in our own times as Coleridge did in his.