The Faulkner D.Litt is now a SACS accredited PhD!

I got the following in an email today from Dr. Woods (who has posted here before) about the Faulkner doctorate, based upon the Great Books:

 

List of submitted dissertations: Archives

 

That looks like a great program. Reasonable costs, even if the cost goes up a little bit it will still likely be at a competitive level; especially since this is the only degree of its kind.

 

And you would do what with it?

 

Land a professorship at Saint John's College?

 

Sounds like a really interesting program! I'm glad that they were able to achieve their goal and might actually consider it for the future if I decide to do an online doctorate.

However I wonder, is it proper to refer to it as a PhD? It's a DLitt degree, so shouldn't the title of this thread (and usage in Faulkner's email) refer to the degree as "a SACS accredited doctorate" since I imagine there are non-trivial differences between this degree and a traditional PhD which warrant the different nomenclature? Or am I just being nitpicky?

 

It's always good to have choices.

 

As I read it, Faulkner's original plan was for a program that would result in a DLitt, but it was revised during development such that it will now be a PhD, literally, not a DLitt.

 

Ahhhh, sorry, my mistake, I missed that part of the email. Thanks for clarifying that it's actually a PhD now. That does add a bit more legitimacy to it, such that grads won't have to explain what a DLitt is!

 

What means "to be based in the Great Books"?

 

Since FU states it is "Guided by a commitment to Biblical truth", one has to w6nder what "great books" will be omitted from the curriculum that dispute this.

 

The great books are those books that are believed to constitute an essential foundation in the literature of Western culture. Specified sets of great books usually number in the range of roughly 50 to 100.

Great books - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

In a "Great Books" program, the entire college curriculum is based around reading and discussing classic works by famous authors. You don't use traditional textbooks.

So for example, instead of studying business or economics through textbooks, you might read the works of Adam Smith and Karl Marx. Instead of studying physics through a textbook, you might read the works of Galileo and Newton.

In practice, most "Great Books" programs are oriented towards Western culture, but it doesn't have to be that way. For example, St. John's College, which is probably the oldest and best-known "Great Books" school, offers a degree in "Eastern Classics", focusing on classic historical texts from India, China, and Japan.

 

If only I did not have to work....I would be all over this.

 

Alas reality sets in

 

"Last, but most important, this Great Books based PhD is completely informed by the Christian faith."

What ever could that mean?

 

Ironic that the great writer, Nobel laureate William Faulkner, is not the one the school with the "great books" degree is named for.

 

I love the fact that the place kicker on the Faulkner intercollegiate football team is 61 years old. With his first extra point kick in a rout of Ave Maria a few weeks ago, he set all kinds of records. Go Eagles. Faulkner University - Football

 

And which Faulkner is Faulkner U named for?