Natural Rights of Man: Life, Liberty, and Property

Bast
History informs us that challenges lie ahead. While Americans have always had challenges and have always overcome them, now it is our turn. The future of our civilization depends on us maintaining the same successful track record. Are we equal to the task? Do we have what it takes to secure the future of our grandchildren?

Do we have local, county, and state leadership in place to successfully navigate what lies ahead? Do we have an educated citizenry who know how to follow sound ideas and disinterested leaders?

If you can’t answer these questions in the affirmative, now is the time to take your leadership training to the next level with our new online Masters in Natural Law from Monticello College. One of the first books you will study in this program is The Natural Law, by Heinrich Rommen.

hrRommen became one of the foremost authorities of the 20th century in the application of natural law in the fields of law, philosophy, history, and theology. His book was written in Nazi Germany partially while he served a prison sentence for his writings against the Third Reich.

Not long after fleeing to America in 1938 to avoid the looming storm of Hitler and the Nazi party he wrote, “Our modern dictators are masters of legality. Hitler aims not at a revolution, but at a legal grasp of power according to the formal democratic processes.”

This approach is neither new nor has it seen its last use.

Only a citizenry (like the early Americans) who are trained in the relationship between natural law and philosophy, history, economics, governance, theology, and positive law can triumph in the face of the new “modern dictators.”

Rommen begins his book discussing how the value of natural law seems to resurface about every hundred years, coinciding with an increase of positive law and alternatives to a divinity culture. He summaries the ancient natural law debates, then moves to discuss the resurgence of natural law during the era of Royal Absolutism of the 1500’s, then the resurgence of natural law and rights during the late 1600’s and early 1700’s leading to the American Revolution, then again during the second founding of America—the American Civil War, then once more during the WWI and WWII eras.

Based on this cyclical pattern, there is every reason to believe that a discussion of natural law is beginning to resurface even now. But who will be its champions?

A concept that is little understood but that is required for competent leadership to be effective, is the need for an enlightened citizenry (citizens who understand enough to know whether their leaders are on the right track).

heraclitus-weepsHeraclitus the “Obscure Philosopher” writing 500 years before Christ suggested the need “to stress the value of the laws and their binding force against the fickleness of the uncritical masses who are prone to novelties of all kinds and who being woefully lacking in powers of discrimination, were subject to capricious fluctuations of opinion.”

He could just as well have been writing of America in the 21st century.

I personally invite you to enroll in this three-year Masters degree of Natural Law, the only one of its kind in America. The application deadline is February 1, 2016 and classes begin in April. Go to our website www.monticellocollege.org and click on Academics. Fill-out and submit the Graduate Studies application.

I encourage application and enrollment soon so you can begin pre-study as soon as possible. Remember the deep tuition discount being offered for 2016 enrollment only. Classes will be held online Thursdays 7-9pm MT.



ENROLL HERE



Masters in Natural Law Degree Course Schedule


Year One


Tuition – $2,000 (normally $6,000)


10 months of the year – weekly online classes


On campus – one 3-day on campus event


Year Two


Tuition – $3,000 for 2016 enrollees only (normally $6,000)


10 months of the year – weekly online classes


On campus – two 3-day on campus events


Year Three


Tuition – $4,000 for 2016 enrollees only (normally $6,000)


10 months of the year – weekly online classes


On campus – two 3-day on campus events


Final Oral Examination on campus (end of second on campus event)


 


If you have any questions please call me at (435) 590-1661. Again the sooner you apply and enroll the sooner you can get started on the readings.


 


ENROLL HERE




YEAR ONE READINGS – MASTERS OF NATURAL LAW


 


Year One Readings 


Semester One


Introduction to Natural Law Concepts

DeMille:         We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident


Rommen:          The Natural Law

Bastiat:          Selected Essays on Political Economy

Strauss:          Natural Right and History


 


Natural Law in the Greek Tradition

Sophocles:          Antigone

Aeschylus:          Seven Against Thebes

Euripedes:          Phoenician Maidens

Plato:                   Seventh Letter, Crito, Apology

Aristotle:          Politics, Ethics


 


Natural Law in the Hebrew Tradition I

Psalms 36-37, 118-119

Proverbs 8

Romans 2

Genesis 9, 17, 26

Exodus 12-13, 20-31, 34-35, 40

Deuteronomy 1, 4-27, 30

Joshua 1, 8, 22


 


Natural Law in the Hebrew Tradition II

Matthew 5-7, 16, 18, 22

Luke 6, 10, 22

John 3, 6, 13-17

Romans 3-13

1 Corinthians 11-34

Galatians 3-6

Hebrews 7-10

Semester Two


Natural Law in Roman Institutions

Cicero:                Republic, Laws

Aurelius:            Meditations (translated by Hutcheson and Moor)

Augustine:         City of God, Confessions


 


Historical Contexts of Natural Law: Plutarch

Plutarch:          Lives


Natural Law in the Medieval Tradition

Aquinas:          Summa Theologica, Parts I-II, questions 79, 58, 63, 90, 19, 51, 91, 92, 99, 94-97

Dante:                   Divine Comedy

Luther:          A Treatise on Christian Liberty

Natural Law in European Traditions

Cervantes:          Don Quixote

-Milton:         Paradise Lost

-Suarez:         Selections from Three Works of Francisco Suarez (by Liberty Fund)

–Millar:         The Origin and Distinction of Ranks


 


ENROLL HERE

				

					

				

				

				
		

			
					

			

					

		

				

																														

				

		

				

					
Krislyn Elliott & Lauren Swanepoel
				

				

									
Krislyn Elliott and Lauren Swanepoel act more like sisters than moms as they take really slow walks through the woods together, looking at and taking pictures of every plant they see & wishing they could remember their names and uses more thoroughly. They also like concocting herbal teas, salves, tinctures and strange drinks.
Krislyn is from Utah and has loved learning about plants since an unusually cool high school biology teacher took his classes on neighborhood botany walks. She has always been fascinated and constantly amazed at the power and beauty of plants.
Lauren is from South Africa, she and her family emigrated to Utah almost 10 years ago. They have fallen in love with the area and know more about this state & the great places to explore here than most Utah natives.
We both feel strongly about taking care of our families with natural methods and the abundant medicine we have growing right around us. We are trying to learn as much as we can about our magical local plants and are looking forward to sharing some of our favorites with you.
								

				

					

				

				

				

			

					

		

				

																														

				

		

				

					
William DeMille
				

				

					
Director of Georgic Develeopment
				

				

									
William DeMille is a lifelong vegetable farmer. He studied Horticulture and Agronomy at Northwest Missouri University, Maryville. He holds a certificate in aquaponic engineering and production from Cornell University, NY, and another from GrowHaus Aquaponics in Denver, CO. He also studied soil regeneration and is a graduate of Dr. Elaine’s Soil Food Web School. He is the Director of Georgic Development for The Center for American Legacy Studies.
William is a farm consultant establishing several agricultural startups since 2005 in Missouri, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada and he currently manages 2500 acres of grassland for the Ruby Mountain Foods Company.
His latest venture is a market gardening school called Georgic Revolution where he teaches a 17-week course onsite in Nevada covering soil health and vegetable production without the use of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, etc. and where he operated a soil lab.
William lives with his wife Vernie in the snow capped mountains of Northern Nevada.
								

				

					

				

				

				

			

					

		

				

																														

				

		

				

					
Lloyd Nelson

				

				

					
World Renown BD Expert


				

				

									
Lloyd Nelson has been practicing the art of Biodynamic (BD) Agriculture for over twenty years. He is a BD preparation maker, builder, artist, farmer, arborist, BD educator & consultant. He is co-founder of Biodynamic Source – a Colorado based non-profit specializing in high potency BD preparations – and he owns and operates a Biodynamic spray, fertilizer and consultation service. He has worked with small and large scale farms, vineyards, and orchards to transition to sustainable Biodynamic land management and Demeter BD Certification.
								

				

					

				

				

				

			

					

		

				

																														

				

		

				

					
Vern Cox, PhD
				

				

					
Educator
				

				

									
Vern Cox is married to Joyce Christensen and they have 8 children. He has 3 earned degrees, a BA in psychology, and both a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. in marriage and family therapy.
He has had a diverse and interesting career that started with the Bureau of Land Management, followed by a stint as a Learning Disabilities teacher, and finally a marriage and family therapist, working his way up to executive director of the High Country Counseling and Resource Centers that served two counties in Wyoming.
Dr. Cox served for several years on the board of a charter school. Dr. Cox remains heavily involved in his community and the home schooling movement.
He has extensive background in marriage and family counseling, having held a number of administrative positions during his first career. He holds a BA in Psychology and both a Masters and PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy. He lives with his wife and several married children on their multi-generation farm in Southern Utah.
								

				

					

				

				

				

			

					

		

				

																														

				

		

				

					
Joseph Lofthouse
				

				

					
Educator
				

				

									
Joseph adopted the principles of landrace gardening in response to the harsh growing conditions in a high-altitude, short-season, desert garden. Instead of relying on expensive poisons, labor, and materials to coddle the plants, he encourages genetic diversity, cross-pollination, and survival of the fittest, allowing the plants to adapt themselves to the current and ever-changing ecosystem, thus simplifying gardening and seed saving. Joseph is the author of Landrace Gardening: Food Security Through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination. Joseph loves eating, farming, swimming, hot-springs, sunbathing, bird-watching, running, yoga, leggings, kilts, playing guitar, singing, and living habitually barefoot.
								

				

					

				

				

				

			

					

		

				

																														

				

		

				

					
Dan Brooks
				

				

					
Educator
				

				

									
Dan Brooks was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. During his first career, he spent 20 years working in and managing high-end restaurants and golf courses including extensive banquet/special events services and ice sculptures.
For the past 23 years, Dan has been a successful entrepreneur and family business owner in Las Vegas. He and his wife have 4 children and 11 grandchildren. He serves as a trustee for The Center for American Legacy Studies.
								

				

					

				

				

				

			

					

		

				

																														

				

		

				

					
Shanon Brooks, PhD

				

				

					
Director


				

				

									
Shanon Brooks is the director of The Center for American Legacy Studies, an institution dedicated to helping families embrace and incorporate the Five American Ideals; Georgics, Liber, Providence, Public Virtue, and Liberty into their lives and communities. America exists because of Americans. Americans are the beneficiaries of a peculiar culture and way of living.
Over the past 75 years, that culture and way of life have been lost. Restore that culture and Americans will rebuild America to once again be worthy of John Winthrop’s 1630 admonition, “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.”
Brooks has been a leader in alternative higher education for over 30 years, and is the author of two books: AMERICAN: Killing the American Dream and A Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens.
Dr. Brooks is a veteran of military service in the United States Submarine Fleet and holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration, a Master’s degree in education, and a Ph.D. in constitutional law.
He and his wife Julia reside on the 80-acre conference facility of The Center for American Legacy Studies.