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About
Fidelity & ExcellenceThomas Aquinas College is unique among American colleges and universities, offering a faithfully Catholic education comprised entirely of the Great Books and classroom discussions.
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A Liberating Education
Truth MattersTruth, and nothing less, sets men free; and because truth is both natural and supernatural, the College’s curriculum aims at both natural and divine wisdom.
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A Catholic Life
Under the Light of FaithThe intellectual tradition and moral teachings of the Catholic Church infuse the whole life of Thomas Aquinas College, illuminating the curriculum and the community alike.
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Admission & Aid
Is TAC Right for You?Do you enjoy grappling with complex questions? Are you willing to engage in discussions about difficult concepts, with the truth as your ultimate goal?
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Students & Parents
Mind, Body & SpiritThere is always something to do at TAC — something worthwhile, something fulfilling, and something geared toward ever-greater spiritual and intellectual growth.
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Alumni & Careers
What Can You Do with a Liberal Education?Nothing speaks more to the versatility of the College’s academic program than the good that our alumni are doing throughout the Church and the world.
Aligning to Truth
After the excitement of last night's wooing, students rose early for Mass and breakfast before their first class. Ready in body and soul, the prefects walked the students to the classroom building 30 minutes early to coach them through their propositions.
In class, students constructed a perpendicular line, proved supplementary angles to be equal to 180 degrees, and demonstrated how vertical angles can be shown to be equal to each other. Just another intellectual adventure with Euclid!
After a morning well circumscribed with points, lines, and circles, the made their way to lunch, filled with energy and as cheerful as ever. Gould Commons echoed with excited and pleasantly nerdy chatter about which propositions were hardest and whose diagrams were straightest. Leaving behind straight lines for the time being, programmers traced the winding paths back to the classroom building, now to embrace and encounter a different series of questions across a different plane of truth.
“Who is truly free?” The classrooms grew quiet as the students considered Boethius’ answer. They turned to the final book of The Consolation of Philosophy, where the dialogue reaches its profound climax. Having journeyed through the instability of fortune and the limits of human knowledge, Boethius now confronts the problem of divine providence and human free will. Lady Philosophy leads him to see that, while events may appear random or unjust from our limited perspective, they are all contained within the eternal vision and justice of God, Who, existing outside of time, sees all things in a single, unchanging moment.
The class wrestled with this challenging but illuminating idea, exploring how true freedom lies not in resisting fate, but in aligning the will with the divine order. And just as Euclidean propositions align to reveal truth, so, too, did Lady Philosophy lay out one of the greatest truths of all for these bright-eyed and sharp-minded students to ponder.
The students bid farewell to Boethius and left the classroom puzzling over the paradox articulated by the poet John Donne in his Holy Sonnet: “take me to you, imprison me, for I, except you enthrall me, never shall be free.”
Onward to the afternoon! Revisit the Summer Program blog tomorrow to read about the students’ final dance practice, study hall, and evening at the coffee shop!