The Pillars: Jerusalem, Athens, and the Western Mind

A tiny country becomes a world power, while the son of a beheaded king restores the royal glory to his family.

Miguel de Cervantes proposes a new type of hero for an age that has moved beyond the knight in shining armor.

The first modern novel employs humor and satire to explore what it means to be an individual.

The Jewish communities of Renaissance Italy were unusual in their interactions with their Christian neighbors.

For good reason, Shakespeare is one of the most famous and most influential writers of the English language.

Arguably Shakespeare’s greatest play, Hamlet will catapult us into the modern era of literature.

Modernity continues to emerge with the writings of Montaigne and Shakespeare.

The study of Kabbalah—Jewish mysticism—will play an outsized role in shaping not only Western thought but even modern science.

The amount of bloodshed that took place following the Protestant Reformation is staggering.

In the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation, religious Europe continued to splinter.

Political turmoil swept across Europe in the wake of the Protestant Reformation.

Few events in Christian history had a more dramatic impact than the Protestant Reformation.

The spirit of discovery in the Renaissance will push Europe to expand its trade horizons and reshape its economy.

Consolidation of power will dramatically alter politics, wars, and loyalties in Europe.

The Northern Renaissance may be infused with the same spirit as the Italian Renaissance, but it manifested in uniquely northern European ways.

Modern politics cannot be fully understood without Machiavelli.

The notion of human dignity takes center stage as humanism comes to the fore with Petrarch and Pico.

A new era dawns on history as the Renaissance begins.

Chaucer is arguably the most famous writer of the Middle English period.

Dante and Bocaccio did more to develop vernacular writing than perhaps any other writers of their era.

Tales of knights, lords, and ladies have held a prominent position in the western imagination since they were first told.

Passion, love, and romance take center stage in Medieval chivalric literature.

The tragic heroes of the classical era now give way to the new type of hero who will arise in Medieval literature.

The worlds of legal structures and romantic entanglements take a huge step forward during this time period.

The next great philosopher in the tradition of western thought was Thomas Aquinas.

Maimonides arguably was the greatest philosopher of the twelfth century.

The Medieval Islamic world was very advanced in its scholarship and studies, and in some instances surpassed the scholars of Europe.

Life as a Jew in the Middle Ages was difficult across both Christendom and Islamic lands.

When it came to establishing the doctrine of the Catholic Church, there are few quite as important and influential as Augustine.