Join historian and classical scholar J. Rufus Fears as he tells the dramatic story of history's most powerful idea from ancient Greece to our own day. What did freedom mean to Abraham Lincoln-and to Robert E. Lee? What did it mean to Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Martin Luther King? What does it mean to us today? Find out in this deeply moving, thought-provoking course.
A History of Freedom
Explore the history, evolution, growth, and impact of a great and noble concept in this excellent course by a spellbinding historian.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
GUNTHERG from
RUFUS FEARS, AN AMAZING STORYTELLER
Although this course was produced in 2001, it offers us a great deal of insight into the assault on our Republic now in high gear twenty yeas later. It's an axiom that those who do not know history are condemned to repeat its mistakes. Fears offers us plenty of lessons from history. For example, in the last few years we have seen the Deep State resort to weaponized "lawfare," based on trumped up charges. This is directly parallel to Socrates' trial, in which he tells the jury that an honest man cannot survive in politics. Moving on to the Roman Empire, Fears tells us that Cicero observed the children no longer obeyed parents and students no longer respected teachers. Even the animals thought they had rights and expected you to step aside for them. Then moving on a few centuries to Jesus, he sees his trial quite similar to Socrates'. Aside from that similarity, he speculates that these two great teachers would have difficulty ever getting hired. They had no credentials, had written no books and would be far too subversive for academia. Also similarly either of them could have avoided conviction if they hadn't alienated powerful enemies and the government itself. Moving on to the 19th century, he looks at the patron saint of the Marxists, Hegel, who held that the extraordinary individual is beyond other people's rules, and this superman rightfully determines the course of history! Then perhaps most directly relevant to our time in which "science" has been so obviously corrupted in the Covid-19 "plandemic," Fears says that Science will do anything for which it receives grant money, that Science cares little about morality per se. Rufus Fears has given us much to consider in this tour de force course. Rest in peace, Rufus. I miss you.
Date published: 2022-08-16
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Buzsaw from
A challenge .
This course, thank God, has perspective. The perspective is not new, " Freedom requires civic virtue" but there it is. Take or leave it.
Date published: 2021-05-03
Rated 5 out of
5
by
gwjazz from
Rufus "T. Firefly" Fears mixes history with spirit
I've listened to just about every lesson the late Rufus Fears (or "Rufus T. Firefly" as I call him for you Marx Bros fans), and this one is, once again, the perfect mix of insight, overview, historic wonder and half time pep talk. He presents the info in a cogent way and weaves in his view of the world and how it should be. I catch myself saying "Amen" after many of his pronouncement. He makes you cheer for freedom!
Date published: 2021-01-24
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Pinkie from
Clear, to the point, concise, delivery excellent,
what Rufus said over and over applies to the US and is eye opening and shocking to me
Date published: 2020-12-16
Rated 2 out of
5
by
Crusader Rabbit from
Diffuse and dull
This course has left me unsatisfied and unimpressed. I'm about halfway through and still not sure what points Dr. Fears is trying to make. He seems to be talking off the cuff, and sometimes makes factual errors (For example, calling English King James II the son of Charles II --he was his brother). One of his frequent topics is the right to bear arms, and he discusses the Second Amendment in terms that the most fervent right-winger would approve.
It's possible that the remainder of the course will bring matters into sharper focus, but I plan to take some time off and view another course or two before resuming.
Date published: 2020-11-15
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Mr Wise from
Good-Stuff !!!
If your interested in the subject, regardless the course, Prof.
Fears I can say without doubt will exceed your expectations.
The key is reading the historical works yourself, which will
take a few years, maybe decades, but until then, Prof. Fears
can give you the highlights and additional revealing stories
that you won’t find in those works… Kinda reminds you
of a modern day Dr. Franklin, with his carried over humor
and wisdom from those long ago times at the Pennsylvania
Gazette. Whichever course it is, I am sure you will enjoy
Prof. Fears, and what you learn will stick with you for Life.
So what are you waiting for? Add it to the cart & check it out.
You’ll be Happy, and the smarter once U complete the course,
along with those books you chose from the Bibliography.
Happy learnings with the Good-Stuff.
Date published: 2020-09-10
Rated 1 out of
5
by
JohnC1948 from
History of Freedom
Disappointing. And disturbing.
I have bought many titles from the Great Courses, and have watched many more using The Great Courses Plus. Never have I been so disappointed and highly disturbed. Actyally, I've never been really disappointed. And never disturbed. Until now.
Firstly, one of the lectures was really a sermon. Besides that, ststaments were made which hardly any historical or Biblical scholar supports. The Gospel of Mark was NOT written by an associate of Peter. And there was no Roman census where people were required to return to the home of their ancestors as this lecturer asserts.
Secondly, I did not appreciate personal opinion. The lecturer is highly conservative, and even goes so far as to say the PBS is unconstitutional. Nor did I appreciate the fact that he implied that public schools should not be trusted. These are just a few examples of the lecturer's outright bias. He states his opinion as facts. I do not appreciate that from anyone and I certainly did not expect it from a course in The Great Courses.
Date published: 2020-08-03
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Anonymous from
Such a great deal
It’s a gift for my husband. He won’t open it til his birthday July 5th
Date published: 2020-06-18
Overview
About
Dr. J. Rufus Fears was David Ross Boyd Professor of Classics at the University of Oklahoma, where he held the G. T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty. He also served as David and Ann Brown Distinguished Fellow of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Before joining the faculty at the University of Oklahoma, Professor Fears was Professor of History and Distinguished Faculty Research Lecturer at Indiana University, and Professor of Classical Studies at Boston University. An acclaimed teacher and scholar with more than 25 awards for teaching excellence, Professor Fears was chosen Professor of the Year on three occasions by students at the University of Oklahoma. His other accolades included the Medal for Excellence in College and University Teaching from the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA) Great Plains Region Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the UCEA's National Award for Teaching Excellence. Professor Fears's books and monographs include The Cult of Jupiter and Roman Imperial Ideology and The Theology of Victory at Rome. He edited a three-volume edition of Selected Writings of Lord Acton. His discussions of the Great Books have appeared in newspapers across the country and have aired on national television and radio programs. Professor Fears passed away in October 2012.
01: The Birth of Freedom
In the gray dawn of September 21, 490 BCE, 9,000 citizen-soldiers of Athens formed ranks on a plain by the Bay of Marathon. Before sunset, they would fight the seminal battle in the history of freedom. Who were they? What were they fighting for? With these questions, our course begins.
32 min
02: Athenian Democracy
The Persian Wars made Athens the leader of the Greek world. Under Pericles, Athens became history's first true democracy—and an imperial power. What is the Athenian legacy to freedom?
30 min
03: Athens—Freedom and Cultural Creativity
Athenian freedom sparked an intellectual revolution that rivaled the scientific revolution of our own day. The Athenians invented the liberal arts in order to educate free citizens for self-government.
30 min
04: Athenian Tragedy—Education for Freedom
Tragedy was the characteristic cultural statement of Athenian democracy. Sophocles's plays about the House of Oedipus are key documents in the history of freedom, exploring enduring questions of morality, law, and conscience.
30 min
05: Socrates on Trial
In 399 BCE, a recently defeated Athens executed Socrates for impiety. The trial remains a test case for all democratic societies, and Socrates an enduring witness to freedom and the power of ideas.
30 min
06: Alexander the Great
The conquests of this young prince of Macedon opened a new epoch in the history of Greece, the world, and freedom.
30 min
07: The Roman Republic
The American Founders took the Roman republic's balanced constitution as a model. It secured liberty under law. Under it; Rome rose to mastery of a world empire.
30 min
08: Julius Caesar
By the first century BCE, Rome was the only superpower in its world. Yet at the height of their power, the Romans lost their political liberty and turned to Julius Caesar. How did this happen? What did it mean for freedom?
31 min
09: Freedom in the Roman Empire
If the Caesars ended political liberty, they also expanded individual freedom. A look at a day in the life of Pompeii suggests that, in many ways, the Rome of the Caesars is the model for America today.
31 min
10: Rome—Freedom and Cultural Creativity
As in the Athenian democracy, freedom in the Roman Empire led to a burst of intellectual creativity that would lay the foundations for the next 1,000 years of European civilization.
30 min
11: Gibbon on Rome’s Decline and Fall
For the Founders and Edward Gibbon, the fall of Rome was the tale of how a people had traded republican liberty for the false security of absolutism. What can the Roman Empire's decline teach us today?
30 min
12: Jesus
What makes Jesus of Nazareth, who, like Socrates, never wrote a book or had any wealth or worldly power, one of the most important figures in the history of human freedom?
31 min
13: Jesus and Socrates
Jesus and Socrates invite comparison as awe-inspiring teachers, as seminal figures in the history of freedom, and as witnesses to the claims of conscience.
31 min
14: Paul the Apostle
Paul's preaching drew upon concepts of freedom in some of the most innovative currents of Roman imperial thought. His letter to the Galatians is rightly regarded as the Magna Carta of Christian liberty.
30 min
15: Freedom in the Middle Ages
Far from being an age of absolutism, the Middle Ages in Western Europe saw the growth of ideas and institutions basic to the history of liberty, including representative government and the right to revolution.
30 min
16: Luther and the Protestant Reformation
Luther is one of the proofs that great men and women—not anonymous forces—make history. He shattered the medieval world and unleashed currents that continue to shape the history of freedom.
30 min
17: From Machiavelli to the Divine Right of Kings
Are the state and its leaders bound by the same moral values that should govern private conduct? Machiavelli said no. His praise of the absolute, amoral state laid the basis for the greatest single challenge to freedom in the modern age.
30 min
18: The Anglo-American Tradition of Liberty
State absolutism received its preeminent early modern statement in the belief that kings are accountable to God alone. But this notion met with differing fates in France and the English-speaking world, with vast implications for freedom.
31 min
19: The Shot Heard ’Round the World
In the predawn darkness of April 19, 1775, 77 citizen-soldiers of Lexington, Massachusetts, formed ranks on their village green. Before noon, they would fight the greatest battle in the history of freedom since Marathon. Who were they? What were they fighting for? With these questions begins the second half of our course.
31 min
20: The Tyranny of George III
What turned loyal British colonists into armed traitors declaring their independence? Edmund Burke suggested the answer when he observed that in England, "the great contests for freedom were, from the earliest times, chiefly upon the question of taxes."
31 min
21: What the Declaration of Independence Says
America is the first nation in history founded upon a statement of principles. The Declaration draws upon two great legacies of freedom: the natural-law tradition of Greece and Rome, and the experience of England.
31 min
22: Natural Law and the Declaration
Born in democratic Athens, refined by Cicero, affirmed by St. Paul, and incorporated into first Roman and then the English common law, natural law would prove crucial to the American founding.
30 min
23: Miracle at Philadelphia
"Miracles do not cluster. Hold on to the Constitution," said Daniel Webster. Wondrous as the Constitution is, it is also explicable as the work of statesmen educated for freedom, and steeped in the lessons of history.
31 min
24: What the Constitution Says
Here you will "visit" a state ratifying convention in order to analyze both the Constitution (especially as explained by "The Federalist") and the case made by its Anti-Federalist foes, who argued that small republics and virtue both private and public are the best safeguards for liberty.
31 min
25: The Bill of Rights
Basic to the Constitution's success has been the ability to amend it. A careful analysis of the first two Amendments paves the way for discussions of the relevance of the Framers' intent to America today and of the Founders' belief that every right entails a corresponding duty.
31 min
26: Liberty and Lee at Gettysburg
The American founding did not resolve the questions of slavery and union. Both were settled only by the Civil War. This lecture asks why a man of Lee's character, who saw the wrong of slavery, chose nonetheless to follow his state and the Confederate cause.
31 min
27: Liberty and Lincoln at Gettysburg
Lincoln's address over those who fell in the Civil War's biggest battle took only moments, but spoke to the ages. It is as basic an American founding document as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
30 min
28: FDR and the Progressive Tradition
FDR's reforms played a crucial role in meeting the awful test of the Great Depression, and may have saved constitutional government in America.
31 min
29: Why the French Revolution Failed
The excesses of democracy in France spawned tyranny and wars of conquest. Why did these excesses occur, and how did the young American republic manage to avoid them?
31 min
30: The Liberal Tradition
The mighty tradition of liberty under law and representative government runs back to the Magna Carta and beyond. More recently, this tradition has been powerfully shaped by great classical liberal thinkers such as Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, and Lord Acton.
31 min
31: Churchill and the War for Freedom
On June 4, 1940—amid the sternest days in his country's history—Britain's new Prime Minister vowed that his island nation would "never surrender." He was a model of true statesmanship, and freedom's champion in an hour of urgent peril.
30 min
32: The Illiberal Tradition
This lecture examines the ideas that shaped Hitler's nightmare vision. Despite Hitler's defeat, nationalism, socialism, and vulgarized Darwinism remain influential today as counterfeit forms of liberty.
31 min
33: Hitler and the War Against Freedom
Hitler's career shows what happens when a nation and its leaders lose their moral compass. His terrifying story teaches us that free peoples must hold the values of liberty as universal and be willing to defend them if liberty is to endure.
31 min
34: The Cold War
World War II added to the power of Stalin, a tyrant no less despotic than his enemy Hitler. But standing guard over freedom was an America led by presidents like Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Reagan, all of whom shared the great liberal idea that those with power have a moral duty to defend the weak.
31 min
35: Civil Disobedience and Social Change
In the decades after 1945, nonviolent campaigns for freedom—and above all the movement against racial discrimination led by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.—made key contributions to the growth of liberty.
31 min
36: Freedom and the Lessons of History
Americans enter the 21st century convinced that we are opening a new era of liberty, prosperity, and peace. Europeans entered the last century with similar beliefs. We close with a cautionary note, taking up a theme first sounded in Athens 25 centuries ago.
30 min
