COURSES – SPRING 2026 / Old Courses
The courses listed below in alphabetical order were offered in previous semesters.
Click on any title to view the related course page.
OLD TESTAMENT AS LITERATURE AND IN THE ARTS
Coordinators: Joyce Hinote, Peter Dichter, Jamie Sykes
The Old Testament is a great religious work but it also contains many wonderful stories that have influenced our literature and fine arts down through the centuries.
POINT OF VIEW
Coordinators: Terri Hicks, Barbara Gordon, Bob Hartmann
This is an interactive discussion class in which both the coordinators and class members bring in short opinion pieces &ndsp; editorials, op-ed articles, reviews, etc.
PORTRAIT OF A LADY
Coordinators: Pat Geehr, Sheryl Harawitz, Susan Keohane
Embark on a literary journey through the intricate world of Henry James’s Portrait of a Lady.
POWER: THE GLORY OF IT
Coordinators: Andrea Irvine, David Bartash, Marion Schultheis
Power: The word comes from the Latin word for “to be able.”
PRESENTERS SHOWCASE
Coordinators: Joyce West, Steve Allen, Caroline Thompson
Quest members have a wide diversity of interests and experiences. Each session is a chance to encounter something new or an encore of a talk that will be new to many members.
RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT
Coordinators: Sandy Kessler, Bob Gottfried
We will explore the controversial subject of race relations in America by considering some classic and contemporary writings by American political thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson, George Fitzhugh, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Isabel Wilkerson, and Glenn Loury.
READING BLACK LIVES
Coordinators: Diane Crothers, Barbara Barnes, Penelope Pi-Sunyer, Ilene Winkler
By reading and discussing historical and contemporary accounts of Black Lives, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of those lives and the current condition of all Americans.
READING EDITH WHARTON
Coordinators: Patricia Geehr, Arlene Curinga
We will read The Custom of the Country, published in 1913 after The House of Mirth (1905) and before The Age of Innocence (1920).
READING THE RABBIS
Coordinators: Paul Golomb, Bob Reiss
The Talmud is the opus magnum of Judaism as we understand it today. It is a massive work – over 2700 folio pages – representing more than 600 years of comprehensive Jewish thought.
RISE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
Coordinators: Judy Hampson, Jennifer Jolly, Donna Ramer
At its zenith, Great Britain owned territories across the world and yet, during the 20th century, the empire started to crumble and now little of it is left. What happened?