Month: July 2025

AMERICA AT TWO-HUNDRED FIFTY.

Learn more about the American story: A liberal-arts approach to our Semiquincentennial.

Quarter-credit courses for fall 2025 and spring 2026

Participate at Bucknell in our country’s 250^th anniversary by exploration of rhetorical, historical, and philosophical aspects of the semi-quincentennial year of America that has just begun. Stand-alone or in-sequence, take one for quarter credit, or both across the year for half credit.

UNIV 119 (Fall) America at 250: Telling the Story.

We’ll look at narrative history of the American Revolution (with Rick Atkinson’s recent volumes as principal texts) as a type of story-telling, and consider how it frames and shapes ideas about America today, while considering contentious issues and writing challenges as contexts.

UNIV 119 (Spring) America at 250: The Founding Documents as Literature.

We’ll read and discuss the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, selections from the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers, and the Gettysburg Address, as a kind of literature that has helped shape national narratives, and poetics that helped shape a myth (inspirational or flawed) of America.

Work will be based mainly on reading and participation in 40-minute weekly meetings. Whether you have pre-law or political/policy/historical/philosophical/literary interests, or just want to engage in learning more about America with fellow Bucknellians, come join our exploration!

Your instructor Rev. Prof. Paul Siewers holds a Ph.D. in English, and a B.A. and M.A. in History. As an undergraduate, he majored in U.S. history at Brown with eminent early American scholar Prof. Gordon Wood as an instructor. He has worked as an urban journalist covering current issues of the American experience. In diverse American fashion, while Bucknell’s Russian Orthodox chaplain and priest, he is also an Associate Professor of English and a direct descendant of one of the New Englanders who fought at the Battle of Lexington in 1775.

Thanks to generous Bucknell alumni of the Open Discourse Coalition, textbooks will be donated to enrolled students, and snacks will be supplied for discussions.

America at 250: Telling the Story and Reading the Founding Documents

“Young man, what we meant in going for those Redcoats was this: we always had been free, and we meant to be free always. They didn’t mean we should.” – Captain Levin Preston, 91-year-old veteran of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, in an 1843 interview with a Dartmouth College student.

Two quarter-credit courses (combined for a half-credit if you take both), AY 2025-2026, to commemorate the 250^th anniversary of America with critical thinking, reading, and civil dialogue. 

Join this experiment in rhetorical-poetical and historical exploration of America’s founding: Take one or both courses: Fall Semester “Telling the Story” and Spring Semester “Reading the Founding Documents.” 45 minutes of discussion each week; short reflection papers based on readings; grade based on participation.  

Taught by Rev. Prof. Paul Siewers. His multi-disciplinary approach reflects his background: Ph.D. in Literature, B.A. and M.A. in History, Master’s in Journalism, former research fellow at Princeton’s Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, undergraduate student of Gordon Wood (a foremost scholar of early America); and descendant of a participant in the “shot heard round the world” at the Battle of Lexington: https://www.pbs.org/video/the-american-revolution-the-first-shot-first-look/ 

Textbooks and snacks for discussion are provided free, thanks to support from the Bucknell alumni of the Open Discourse Coalition. 

Be an active participant in America’s 250^th: Study, debate, and take a deep dive into her origin in this unique one-time course offering. 

https://www.wvia.org/shows/wvia-special-presentations/episodes/senator-rand-paul-culture-the-constitution-locnl2