Degree Programs

Saint Constantine College offers students a robustly classical and uniquely Orthodox approach to undergraduate education.

Our curriculum is designed to familiarize students with the liberal arts, while providing a grounding in the robust Christian thought of both the Eastern and Western traditions. Whereas some Great Texts programs ignore the Christian and Islamic East, Saint Constantine College makes them central to our Great Texts curriculum.

Students who enroll in Saint Constantine College are helping to keep alive, in their own scholarship, the ancient traditions of individual tutorial learning, Socratic discussion, and the preservation of those texts, questions, and ideas without which the modern world would not exist.

Year One

In the first year of undergraduate study, students read, write, and conduct research on the Great Texts of the Ancient Greek, Roman, Early Christian, Early Islamic, and Medieval worlds.

Each week, they have two discussion classes and one individual tutorial on these Great Texts. Additionally, the students have one discussion per week dedicated to the Old and New Testaments. The reading load for these discussions and tutorials is both demanding and rewarding, and by the end of Year One, the students will have read and studied over 35 classic texts in their entirety, including Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Plato’s Republic, Virgil’s Aeneid, Augustine’s City of God, John Damascene’s Treatises on the Holy Images, and Dante’s Divine Comedy, as well as the entire Bible and Qur’an.

First Year students also take courses in Classical Geometry and The Classical Cosmos.

Year Two

In the second year of undergraduate study, students at Saint Constantine read, write, and conduct research on the Great Texts of the Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Modern worlds.

Each week, they attend three discussion classes and one individual tutorial on these Great Texts. By the end of Year Two, the students have read and studied over 50 texts in their entirety, including Machiavelli’s The Prince, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of a Slave, Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, and King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” By the end of Year Two, students have experienced a rigorous overview of the texts and ideas that have shaped both the Eastern and the Western Christian consciousness.

Second Year students also take courses in Biology, Greek I, and Greek II.

The Bachelor of Arts: Two Tracks

Having completed their chronological overview of Great Texts, students in Years Three and Four begin to study the great authors in tremendous depth, and have their choice of two tracks: the Saint Constantine Orthodox Chrisitan Studies Major, and the WJU English Major.

Orthodox Christian Studies Major
WJU English Major

Orthodox Christian Studies Major

Though Orthodox Christianity is over 2,000 years old, the field of Orthodox Christian Studies is still an emerging field in the U.S. and Western Europe. Centers for Orthodox Christian Studies have recently been established at institutions like Cambridge and Fordham Universities.

Saint Constantine College is proud to be the first Orthodox College in the United States to offer a Bachelor of Arts in Orthodox Christian Studies.

The Bachelor of Arts in Orthodox Christian Studies apprentices students in Orthodox Classics of Theology, Philosophy, and Literature, as well as the Liturgical Languages and Arts of the Orthodox Church.

Through rigorous discussion and individualized tutorials, the student who majors in Orthodox Christian Studies is prepared to pursue careers in Christian ministry and Christian education, as well as further graduate studies at an Orthodox Seminary.

At a Glance: Orthodox Christian Studies

36 units of Great Texts discussions and tutorials, focusing on the Philosophical, Literary, and Theological roots of Orthodox Christianity
Up to 9 units of Special Topics in Orthodox Christianity, including Patristics and Russian Literature
6 units of Liturgical Languages: students choose from Arabic, Greek, and Russian
6 units of Liturgical Arts: students choose from Iconography, Chant, and more
Capstone Senior Thesis Project in Orthodox Christian Studies

WJU English Major

Partnering with William Jessup University, Saint Constantine hosts the Bachelor of Arts in English, a rigorous upper division course of study in English Literature.

Special focus is placed on the relationship between the philosophy and theology of early Christianity and the literature of medieval and renaissance England.

Through Great Texts discussions, individualized tutorials, and specialized upper division electives, the student who majors in the WJU English track becomes conversant with the broad scope and contemporary nuances of the study of English Literature.

WJU English majors are prepared to go on to a wide range of careers in the humanities and education, as well as further graduate study in literature and the humanities.

At a Glance: English

36 units of Great Texts discussions and tutorials, focusing on the major English classics of the 8th through 17th centuries and the philosophical and theological roots of English literature
Up to 18 units of English Literature electives, chosen by students to further explore special topics in English literature
3 units of Critical Analysis of Literature, examining recent trends in literary theory
Capstone Senior Thesis Project in English Literature

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