Honor's Program
Combining 'Great Books' with THE 'Great Book'
"To read well, that is, to read true books in a true spirit, is a noble exercise, and one that will task the reader more than any exercise which the customs of the day esteem. It requires the training, such as the athletes underwent, the steady intention almost of the whole life to this object." - Thoreau
The Cornerstone University Honors Program provides an opportunity for academically gifted students to enhance their educational experience through special sections of classes and close work with faculty members on individual projects. Central to the program will be the ongoing dialogue between the 'Great Books' of the Western Intellectual Tradition, and the Book, the Bible, upon which all our intellectual endeavors are based. Another strong emphasis will be focused preparation for graduate studies in each honors student's field of study. The objective of the program is to produce scholars who will take this synthesis of Biblical and classically-based education into their professional careers.
The Honors Program features:
- Close work with faculty mentors
- Emphasis on servant-leadership in the academic realm and beyond
The Cornerstone University Honors Program is available to students who:
- Have been accepted to Cornerstone University by means of the traditional application process
- Have an ACT score of 28 or above (or an SAT score of 1240 or above)
- Complete the Honors Program application
- Have been accepted by the decision of the University Honors Council
**Any student whose ACT or SAT scores do not qualify, but who excels during the first semester of the freshman year at Cornerstone and shows tremendous academic promise, will be given the opportunity to apply to the Honors Director for late entry into the Honors Program. The Honors Council will have the final decision in all such matters.
Your Next Step
Dr. Michael Stevens, Assistant Professor of English at Cornerstone, is the Honors Director, and he would love to hear from you if you are interested in the Honors Program, or if you have questions about the 'Great Books' curriculum, the servant leadership component or any other Honors-related questions.
You may also schedule an individual meeting with Dr. Stevens during any campus visit. Please contact your admissions counselor to plan a class visit or one-on-one discussion.
If you qualify to participate in the Honors Program and have applied to Cornerstone University, you can download the Honors Program Application here (in Word format).
Suggested great works
This list is representative of the sorts of works honors students will encounter:
- Holy Bible
- The Republic (Plato)
- Nicomachean Ethics (Aristotle)
- Elements of Geometry (Euclid)
- Confessions (Augustine)
- The Divine Comedy (Dante)
- The Freedom of a Christian (Luther)
- Novum Organum (Bacon)
- Don Quixote (Cervantes)
- The Winter's Tale (Shakespeare)
- The Lives of the Artists (Vasari)
- St. Matthew's Passion (Bach)
- Self-Portraits (Rembrandt)
- Constitution of United States
- Fear and Trembling (Kierkegaard)
- Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky)
- Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis)
- The Waste Land (T.S. Eliot)
- The Cost of Discipleship (Bonhoeffer)
- Ideas Have Consequences (Weaver)
- The Christian Mind (Blamires)
