New to the Directory

From TV shows to computer games, the Vikings still manage to capture our imagination and ensnare us in an odd mix of fact and fiction. But who were they really? This new series takes a deep dive into this complex world of the early medieval Northmen, blending a wide variety of sources and the newest perspectives on written and material culture.

In the early 10th century, a woman was laid to rest in a lavish ship burial at Oseberg, Norway—one of the richest Viking graves ever discovered. But she was no queen’s consort or mere noblewoman. Her grave goods suggest she was a ruler or religious leader, commanding respect in her own right. In the overtly masculine Old Norse society, women were not simply passive and obedient, sometimes they also found ways to navigate the cultural framework and shape some agency for themselves.

In this class we’ll be moving from the very real, mundane yet essential domain of Norse women – without women’s spinning and weaving the Viking age wouldn’t have existed! – to the more mythical realm of goddesses, Valkyries, spirits, exploring all kinds of social and political roles women would have adopted. Drawing on archaeology, literature, chronicles or laws we’ll attempt to recreate part of the fascinating stories of the great and famous but also forgotten characters that shaped the Viking age and beyond.

The module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below:

Outline	8-Session Structure
Week 1	Lecture 1: The daily life of women: marriage, children, work
	Discussion 1: Discussion about Lecture 1 material
Week 2	Lecture 2: Women and power: queens, avengers, warriors
	Discussion 2: Discussion about Lecture 2 material
Week 3	Lecture 3: The Norse sorceress and prophetess
	Discussion 3: Discussion about Lecture 3 material
Week 4	Lecture 4: Divine images of women /td>
	Discussion 4: Discussion about Lecture 4 material

Join us as we continue learning (advanced) basic Japanese, focusing on the areas of reading and listening comprehension, with some attention to speaking and writing. Over the course of this module series we will work our way through the Genki II textbook, building upon the foundation built from the Genki I text. 一緒に日本語を勉強しませんか

Recorded Series: All sessions of this series are being recorded and provided afterwards to enrolled students in order to support the learning of the group.

This course is for those who have an interest in Japanese culture and wish to continue our study of Japanese. We will continue using Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji, and covering grammatical structures. Through use of conversational Japanese, we will continue to explore how the language is used in anime, manga, and music.

Japanese is a language of great nuance and depth. This module will open the door to that world and build a foundation for greater insight into Japan's culture and its people.

This course is for those who have an interest in Japanese culture and wish to continue our study of Japanese. We will continue using Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji, and covering grammatical structures. Through use of conversational Japanese, we will continue to explore how the language is used in anime, manga, and music.

Japanese is a language of great nuance and depth. This module will open the door to that world and build a foundation for greater insight into Japan's culture and its people.

In this series we’ll study Japanese using different tools such as videos, games, and different exercises. We’ll explore different aspects of Japanese culture and work on more complex vocabulary, grammar, and sentence patterns. We’ll also watch lots of videos, play games, and read graded readers among other things.

Note: Japanese Through Culture is for students who already have a basic level of Japanese.

The Muppet Lord of the Rings adaptation developed at Sunshine Moot 2025 was a runaway success, generating millions at the box office and garnering accolades from critics and fans alike. Big Name Studios was so impressed by Signum Studio’s creativity and short production schedule, that they’ve asked us to do it again! There’s a catch though- the Signum Studios Creative Team must generate a new adaptation as soon as possible in order to build on the success of the first movie.

“We’re so excited about the possibility of even more opportunities to explore Muppet and LoTR mashups!” Addison Bigbucks, president of Big Name Studios said in a recent interview. “We can’t wait to see what the Signum Studios Creative Team will come up with next!”

In this SPACE course, the Creative Team will lead interactive discussions and breakout sessions to discuss human and Muppet casting choices, art direction, and narrative themes. Knowledge of the following Jim Henson productions will be useful but not required: The Muppet Show (1976-1981), : The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), : Muppet Treasure Island (1996), and the : Muppet Movie (2011). No homework outside of class is required, but ongoing discussions on Signum’s Discord channel will be enthusiastically encouraged.

Can the Creative Team at Signum Studios achieve the same success as their Sunshine Moot predecessors? What decisions will appeal to both the die-hard Tolkien fans, Muppet aficionados, and the casual movie-going public? Don’t worry, the Creative Team will have help including a guest lecture from Maggie Parke, Director of Signum Studios, two producers who will keep us on budget and on time, and several Bigwig Studio Executives who will offer advice on creating the next blockbuster hit.

The Dominican Johannes Tauler (ca. 1300-1361) counts as one of the most important representatives of Medieval German mysticism—so important, in fact, that some scholars consider him a predecessor to Martin Luther. That might be an oversimplification, but he stands among the giants of Middle High German literature and continues a literary tradition established by Mechthild von Regensburg and Meister Eckhart. His homilies, which begin with a Bible reading following the liturgical calendar, boast a powerful imagery. His calls to moral reform and self-reflection challenge the reader both spiritually and linguistically. With Dr. Schendel’s guidance, you can overcome your resignatio ad grammaticam and be better equipped to appreciate Tauler’s invocation of the resignatio ad infernum.

As Tauler’s repertoire is huge, and we believe in Roman Jakobson’s definition of philology as “the art of reading slowly,” every iteration of this module focuses on a different selection of homilies, which the preceptor and the class choose together based on interest and language levels.

This course is open to all veterans of SPACE’s growing Middle High German program. At least one module of previous MHG is highly recommended.

In this series we’ll study Japanese using different tools such as videos, games, and different exercises. We’ll explore different aspects of Japanese culture and work on more complex vocabulary, grammar, and sentence patterns. We’ll also watch lots of videos, play games, and read graded readers among other things.

Note: Japanese Through Culture is for students who already have a basic level of Japanese.

Many readers around the world are familiar with the Old Testament, especially in western civilization. But did you know other cultures from the Ancient Near East also contained comparable genres of literature? Epics, annals, legal texts, hymns, wisdom literature, and prophetic oracles are all extant from various cultures of the ancient world. In this course, we will read together some of these works of ancient literature and discuss in relation to their literary counterparts in the Hebrew Bible.

The premise for this course is that the Primeval History (i.e. Genesis 1-11) provides the key conceptual roadmap for how to understand the rest of the biblical narrative (especially the OT, but pertaining to the NT as well). Once the reader begins to see these connections, an entire world is opened up, because subsequent biblical authors continue to build on the foundational elements introduced in the early chapters of Genesis.

This course is designed for a reader to learn how to see these elements for themselves so that the student can continue to explore them in the future in the rest of the biblical literature and in literature outside the Bible as well. This course would deal with topics pertinent specifically to Genesis 1-11. For example: is Genesis 1-11 properly classified as "history," or "myth," or something else? And on the spectrum of literal versus non-literal interpretation of texts, what should be applied? Are there any textual indicators for these things, and if so, how do we recognize them?

Between the Great Schism (the separation of Orthodox and Catholic churches in 1054 CE) and the Protestant Reformation (initiated by the Church of England separating from the Catholic Church in 1534 CE) lies the medieval period of Christian history. The Church was theologically and spiritually vibrant during this time, marked by the parallel developments of scholasticism and mysticism within the Catholic tradition. The basic premise of this course is that modern society has not outgrown the lessons to be learned from this period of history. Our lives can be enriched by exploring how medieval Christians lived their lives and appropriate applying their perspectives in our lives today.

Typological motifs are a prominent feature of Tolkien's legendarium, including the motif of marriage and romance. Marital relationships appear among the Ainur (both Valar and Maiar) and the Children of Ilúvatar (both Elves and Men): some happy, some tragic, and some in-between. Tolkien's stories of marriage and romance represent a kind of "wisdom tradition" with relevant applicability to modern society and modern relationships. Most notably, men are always the ones who "marry up" in Tolkien's world, demonstrating a profound respect for women and femininity in society.

This series emphasizes reading more complex stela and non-stela texts, providing students with opportunities to use research materials outside of the Collier and Manley text. Building on previous examples, we will explore different ancient media such as carved scarabs, tomb illustrations, papyrus, temple walls, and/or spells from the Book of the Dead. This series provides students a means to practice and refine all of the hard won skills from the previous modules as we continue to slowly add new vocabulary and grammar.

Note: This series is especially suited for students who have already taken our beginning sequence of modules in our Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Beginners series.

This first module emphasizes the reading of more complex stela texts, providing students with opportunities to use research materials outside of the Collier and Manley text. Building on previous examples, this module provides students a means to practice and refine all of the hard won skills from the previous modules as we continue to slowly add new vocabulary and grammar.

Note: This series is especially suited for students who have already taken our beginning sequence of modules in our Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Beginners series.

This first module emphasizes the reading of more complex non-stela texts, providing students with opportunities to use research materials outside of the Collier and Manley text. Building on previous examples, this module provides students a means to practice and refine all of the hard won skills from the previous modules as we continue to slowly add new vocabulary and grammar.

Language is never more concise and powerful than in the Art of Poetry. Sadly, this art is not consistently taught, nor even consistently admired, having become tainted with the mindset that it is archaic, useless, or unintelligible. Those who seek to learn to write or enjoy this art, are frequently rebuffed by conflicting definitions and daunting rules and rhyme schemes.

In this module, students would be introduced to reading and writing basic poetry techniques and examples, learning how to “color” outside the lines with their own words, and to discover the unique power of concise language, empowering them to set out on their own individual poetry journey.
(This course will utilize the Collaborative Feedback Method to better support all poetic explorers!)

The Old Testament is remarkable among other works in ancient Near Eastern literature for its prominent inclusion of women in the narrative. This is especially noteworthy, considering that ancient Israelite society was a patriarchal society. This course explores the lives of individual women in the narrative and focuses on their collective contribution to the entire body of OT literature. Most notably, the Old Testament contains two books named specifically for women ("Ruth" and "Esther"), and three prominent hymns are explicitly attributed to female authors (Exodus 15, Judges 5, and 1 Samuel 2). Undoubtedly, the heroines of the Old Testament continue to inspire women (and men!) to this day.

Let us continue our journey through the Discworld series!

Over the eight classes we will read the seven books, in publication order, with one book being discussed in each of seven classes. The final class will be built to allow for further discussion of the themes raised in this series.

Access to the texts listed below is desirable. Prior knowledge of at least the majority of the listed texts will be assumed.

The basic premise of this module is that 1) there are some systematic similarities and dissimilarities between Tolkien's works (especially his legendarium) and the corpus of literature called the Old Testament; and 2) understanding these systematic similarities and dissimilarities enriches the reader's understanding and appreciation for BOTH bodies of literature. Fundamentally, both Tolkien's legendarium and the Old Testament address issues of metaphysics through the vehicle of narrative (with poetry and other genres sprinkled in, of course!).

The module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below:

Outline	8-Session Structure
Week 1	Session 1: Intersections of Tolkien and the Old Testament (introductory -- literary, mythological, theological)
	Session 2: Intersections of Archetypes (literary)
Week 2	Session 3: Intersections of Typology (literary)
	Session 4: Intersections of Salvation and Judgment (mythological)
Week 3	Session 5: Intersections of Death and Life (mythological)
	Session 6: Intersections of the Human Condition (theological)
Week 4	Session 7: Intersections of the Divine Being (theological)
	Session 8: Intersections of Textual Criticism (literary)

Note: This mini module is a special small-group experience consisting of four 1-hour sessions—one session per week—for the cost of 1 Token. Since this mini module is designed only for a small and intimate group, it will be capped at 4 students.

This mini module aims to explore the historical and literary complexities of the medieval collection of Norse myths known as the Poetic Edda focusing on the poems that mainly deal with cosmogony and Odin's quests. Bilingual approach - texts both in Old Norse and English translation.

Week 1: Völuspá (The Prophecy of the Seeress)
Week 2: Hávamál (The Sayings of the High One)
Week 3: Vafþrúðnismál (The Ballad of Vafthrudnir)
Week 4: Grímnismál (The Ballad of Grimnir)

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.