The Study of the Humanities In Principio erat verbum, et verbum
erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum. –from the Prologue of the
Holy Gospel according to St. John Our knowledge of human things
is bound up in monuments, images, sounds, and, especially,
words. From its rude beginnings to its splendid heights,
civilization has always been associated with the public
celebration and recollection ofthe deeds of men and women. From
triumphal arches, equestrian statues, odes, symphonies, and
tragedies, to cathedrals and palaces, sermons and orations,
string quartets, essays, and epics: the learned and the talented
throughout the centuries have sought to preserve their hard-won
wisdom by handing it down in forms that would delight the
senses, capture the attention, and inflame the admiration of
succeeding generations. All of these works of creativity—by
scops and bards, architects and composers, orators and
philosophers—have a role to play in a liberal education, for, as
the great Aquinas once put it, “Every kind of kno