Showing results by author "The Great Courses" in All Categories

In 36 thought-provoking lectures, you'll explore enlightening teachings that have inspired the world and that continue to speak to life's most important questions. Throughout, you'll benefit from Father Koterski's ecumenical perspective, as he presents these teachings within the Jewish and Christian traditions and compares the varying versions of these texts. What do these writings have to say about the great philosophical problems people seek to understand? You'll find out as you contend with the literal and figurative meanings behind some of the Bible's most essential books and parts (as well as some that many of us overlook).

The Sun, Moon, and stars are crucial to your daily existence. The perfect regularity of the heavens is the only guaranteed part of life and inspires deep religious and philosophical ideas, while unexpected events such as eclipses and comets incite fear. Experience this ancient outlook with noted astrophysicist and historian of astronomy Professor Bradley Schaefer of Louisiana State University. An award-winning teacher, Dr. Schaefer takes you around the world, exploring the close relationship that people thousands of years ago had with the sky.

If you're like many people, you might associate debate with a school club, or perhaps a TV political debate that features two or more candidates talking over each other. But if these are your only associations with debating, you're missing out on an intellectual pursuit that can help you in all aspects of your daily life. The ability to debate - to present persuasive arguments, pierce the logic of others, and turn the tables against withering cross-examinations - is one of the truest tests of one's intellectual capacity.

More than half a century after humans first walked on the Moon, exciting new space adventures are in the works. Thanks to major advances in rocketry, robotics, and other space technologies, humanity is on the verge of returning to the Moon, exploring Mars, building permanent orbiting space stations, expanding space tourism, and pushing the boundaries of exploration throughout the solar system and beyond. The Future of Space Exploration explores these exciting developments in 12 half-hour episodes, hosted by aerospace engineer and executive Dr. Ariel Ekblaw.

Multiple studies show a clear link between businesses that attend to their employees’ well-being and the bottom line. In fact, the profit of companies with the strongest focus on employee experience is about four times higher than the average. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers, and your shareholders will do well, too. How to Build a Thriving Workplace: A Leader’s Guide will tell you how to identify and implement relatively simple and inexpensive changes to improve your employees’ work environment and positively impact your bottom line.

You would think that when the United States of America was formed, our citizenry could finally enjoy a plethora of hard-won liberties. But that was not the case. While the new Americans no longer suffered from taxation without representation, many of the liberties we enjoy today were not part of their lives. In Liberty on Trial in America: Cases that Defined Freedom, you will learn how liberty increased in our country when individuals sued for those freedoms, when cases were brought specifically to test the limits of the Constitution with its Amendments....

Professor Cary explores thousands of years of deep reflection and brilliant debate over the nature of God, the human self, and the world in these 32 lectures. It's a debate that serves as a vivid introduction to the rich and complex history shared by the West's central religious and philosophical traditions. Whether you're a believer, a seeker, or both, you'll find much to spark your deepest ponderings in these talks on the long and rich interplay between faith and reason.

In this gallery of extraordinary minds, you’ll encounter the leading lights of a world-shaping era, including figures such as Maimonides, Hildegard of Bingen, Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter Abelard, and Francesco Petrarch. Professor Armstrong goes to great lengths to bring these historic figures to life, revealing both the great intellectual contributions and the personal strivings, challenges, and triumphs of some of history’s most remarkable human beings.

From the trenches of World War I to Nazi Germany to Saddam Hussein's Iraq, the 20th century was a time of unprecedented violence. Yet while such monumental violence seems senseless, it is not inexplicable. If we can understand the origins of violence, we may prevent even greater horrors in the century to come. These 24 necessary lectures trace the violent history of the 20th century, beginning with its early roots in the American and, especially, the French revolutions.

As the Black Death swept across Europe, killing up to a half of the population in certain areas, a young Geoffrey Chaucer came of age in England. While he and his family avoided the worst of the disease, all were shaped by its presence and impact on the British island. With expert Simon Doubleday, professor of history at Hofstra University, in After the Plague, examine medieval literature like The Canterbury Tales for firsthand accounts from minority voices not typically heard from in the period.

Over the last four centuries, a small group of thinkers attempted to answer a series of remarkably challenging questions: In a world having a history of untold suffering-especially, it seemed, for Jews-was the existence of an all-powerful and comforting God still tenable? What were the purpose and meaning of Jewish practices and customs? Could Jews still justify the notion of a chosen people in a social climate in which Jewish integration and full participation with the rest of humanity had become the norm?

What is the essence of Judaism? Is it the Ten Commandments, given by God to Israel at Mount Sinai? Or is it the totality of teachings in the Hebrew Bible? Or is it symbolized by something outside the Bible? Find out with this illuminating 12-lecture investigation of the fundamental concepts, beliefs, issues, and themes in the ever-changing, 4,000-year-old saga of Judaism, one of the world's most ancient and influential faiths. Throughout the lectures, you'll study Judaism from within-as it was understood by its adherents in the past and by those who practice or identify with Judaism today.

In the six lectures of The Everyday Guide to Wines of California, you’ll join acclaimed Master of Wine Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan on an engaging and interactive tour of the unique flavors California has to offer. By surveying both perennial top-sellers and experimental underdogs, you’ll discover why California is one of the world’s greatest wine producers. Filled with interactive tastings, suggestions for food pairings, shopping tips, and more, you’ll learn how to enjoy all of California’s offerings - one delicious glass at a time.

It is impossible to understand our world today without understanding the last 100 years of Middle Eastern history. The history of the region in the 20th century is so varied and complex that it defies easy explanations. Shifting borders, governmental overthrows, ethnic and nationalist tensions, and political and economic forces on the world stage all had a hand in shaping the course of Middle Eastern history. Ultimately, however, the story is one of people searching for self-determination, from the stumbling alliances after the fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Arab Spring uprisings.

Published 150 years ago, Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species - the text that introduced the world to natural selection - is among a handful of books that have changed the world. But the route to that status has been surprisingly circuitous and uncertain. Now, in 24 absorbing lectures by an award-winning teacher, you'll learn the remarkable story of Darwin's ideas, how scientists and religious leaders reacted to them, and the sea change in human thought that resulted.

From the days of Freud and Skinner to the modern science of fMRIs and genetics, Introduction to Psychology is a grand introduction to one of the most captivating fields of inquiry - where the subject is you, and everyone around you. Taught by Professor Catherine A. Sanderson of Amherst College, these 36 insightful lessons not only give you a panoramic grounding in the history, methods, and fundamental findings of psychology, but they also introduce you to the most up-to-date 21st-century research and discoveries.

For thousands of years, Jews have looked to the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament by Christians, for their origins, and have located in them the tenets of their faith. However, much of what is recognized today as Judaism does not appear in the Bible. How did Judaism develop from its biblical roots to the highly developed system we know today? What has changed - and what has remained constant? In this series of 24 spirited and provocative lectures, Professor Gafni investigates how the Jewish faith struggled to continually redefine itself during the first thousand years after the completion of the last books of the Hebrew Bible.

Philosophers have long puzzled over the nature of space, time, and matter. These inquiries led to the flowering of physics with the Scientific Revolution in the 17th century. Since then, the spectacular success of modern physics might appear to have made philosophy irrelevant. But new theories have created a new range of philosophical concerns: What is the shape of space? Is time travel possible? Is there a grand unified theory that unites all of physics?

Daunted by the "great big books" of the Western canon? Looking for the same pleasures, satisfactions, and insights from books that are shorter, more accessible, and less dependent on classical references and difficult language than tomes such as Moby-Dick and Ulysses?

Accompanied by a selection of guests, Professor Jortner takes you through a mind-bending exploration of the history that could have been. Captivating storytellers and imaginative thinkers, these experts show how history is contingent on split-second decisions, near misses, and sheer dumb luck. By reflecting on what didn’t happen, 10 Great What-Ifs of American History gives you new insights on what did happen—and the impact on our world today.