You will not find charity among Adler’s original Great Ideas. Rather, charity falls into the category of Love – a word of many meanings. Love applies to a wide variety of relationships such as Romeo and Juliet; Odysseus and Penelope; Hal and Falstaff; Don Quixote and Sancho Panza; Hamlet and his father; Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy in Little Women; Aeneas and Rome; or Achilles and Patroclus. Love may even be given to the self. Charity, however, is a specific type of love which helps us interact with society.
In April, we invite you to explore the nature of charity through four consecutive weekly conversations. The first three weeks will be devoted to Voltaire’s Candide and the final discussion will focus on a particular form of charity: ordo amoris. This final discussion pivots from Voltaire to selected texts from the Bible, Augustine, and Aquinas.
Join us for a series of conversations on the meaning of Charity. Join in one or more of the following conversations, all of which will take place from 5-6:30 pm PDT.
Monday, April 6, Candide, Ch 1-10
Monday, April 13, Candide, Ch. 11-20
Monday, April 20, Candide, Ch. 21-30
Monday, April 27, Ordo Amoris, readings provided