October 2022 Modules

Want to read the NT in the original Greek? The Greek translation of the Old Testament? This module’s for you! The first module seeks to introduce learners to the basics of ancient Greek: the alphabet, introduction to the verb system (tenses and moods) and the noun system (the very helpful article, first and second declension). Over several modules, the students will learn the foundations of the language and then students will be able to read texts.

Note: All sessions will be live recorded and shared with all enrolled students afterward for review and to allow those who cannot attend live to still participate in the class.

We will meet to blend learning, discussion, and playing games with reading, appreciating, and commenting on one another’s work as it is submitted for peer review. Writers are encouraged—but never required—to submit new pieces in any state of draftiness or readiness up to 2,000 words each week for peer reading and feedback. Our Collaborative Feedback method, developed here at Signum University, asks us to comment at the author's comfort level through a structured reader (not editor) response. We gather to encourage the story that the author wants to tell. Our philosophy of kindness first might just turn around your previous experience of writing groups.

Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.

This course introduces the student to the various aspects of geology and how they can relate to worldbuilding and mapmaking. This includes continents, plate tectonics, mountains, water, glaciers, planetary patterns, the distribution of rock types and natural resources, natural disasters and weather patterns. This background would allow students to better evaluate fictional maps as well as create them. Examples will be drawn from Middle-earth, Earth-sea, Westeros, Dungeons and Dragons, and suggestions from students.

Middle High German (MHG) is the umbrella term for the German dialects used in the Holy Roman Empire from about 1050 to 1350. Its written form was the language of the court, and most MHG poetry embraces chivalric intellectual interests—adventure, romances, and courtly love! Come join us this month to begin learning Middle High German, and you’ll learn how to read some of the greatest monuments of medieval literature—The Nibelungenlied, Gottfried von Strassburg’s Tristan und Isolde, Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, the poems of the Minnesänger (courtly poets)—in the original language!

This module requires absolutely no modern German, but you may find that the course awakens that bit of “school German” you remember from high school. We will begin with the first text in our textbook, An Introduction to Middle High German: an excerpt of Berthold von Regensburg’s sermon Von den siben planêten (“On the seven planets”). After that, we will continue through the textbook, reading as many texts as the student interest demands.

We will begin with a short presentation on the grammatical features of Middle High German and what separates German from other Germanic languages (the so-called High German Consonant Shift). After a general introduction and an example of “how to read MHG like a philologist”—slowly, word-by-word, and relaxed—we will begin reading!

I do not anticipate that we will complete all reading texts in the textbook before the end of the month, but we will read as much as we are able. Generally speaking, it takes about three months to read Middle High German competently, but after completing the sequence, students should be able to participate in SPACE’s Readings in Middle High German series. Middle High German offers tons of adventure, including Heroic Epic (Das Nibelungenlied, Kudrun), Crusader Epic (König Rother, Willehalm), Arthurian Romance (Parzival), and the Tristan story (Tristan und Isolde). Completing this sequence will prepare students for their journey into a new and large world of medieval literature.

This series of modules introduces you to the vocabulary and grammar of Old Norse, preparing you to read medieval sagas, eddic poetry, and even Viking-Age runic inscriptions. Each one-month module builds on the previous one, so students ready to learn Old Norse will communicate with our Director and Professor Anderson to choose the right placement for everyone.

The wait is over and Amazon’s new Tolkien-inspired series has come. Already, this series has stimulated much heated discussion across various social media, with the images and trailers dividing opinion among Tolkien fans. In this discussion group, we will watch the show and discuss what we have seen, linking it to what we already know about Tolkien’s creation, and exploring the ways in which ‘The Rings of Power’ is extending the world of Middle-earth.

Access to copies of The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is desirable. Prior knowledge of the texts is also desirable, but you could manage without. Knowledge of The History of Middle-earth series and The Unfinished Tales is a bonus!

There are dragons in Tolkien’s works, of course, as well as Ents, Trolls, and Orcs, all enabling Tolkien to give shape and dimension to his world of Middle-earth. Less discussed amongst readers of the legendarium are the weird creatures that sit in the shadows – the ones designed to really make the back of your neck prickle. In this course, we will discuss these more troubling inhabitants of Middle-earth, with some close reading of the texts to guide our way.

Access to copies of The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is essential. Prior knowledge of the texts is desirable, but you could read them as we go along.