Conversations with Coleman He Wanted to Teach Western Civilization. So He Quit Harvard.
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Mar 9, 2026 
James Hankins, a Renaissance intellectual historian and longtime Harvard professor, left Harvard to revive teaching of Western civilization. He discusses the long historical roots of ideas like free speech, the canon versus diversity debate, the role of Christianity and other traditions, and whether a shared civilizational story can survive in a pluralistic society.
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Always Pair Great Books With Their History
- Study great books together with the historical context that produced them to grasp authors' aims and contemporary problems.
- Hankins told Morningside tutors to pair canonical texts with the surrounding history when teaching.
Civilization Teaches Persuasion And Civic Speech
- Civilization teaching cultivates common language, persuasion, and civic virtues that sustain liberal order.
- He argues Greeks made persuasive speech central, enabling rule by reason rather than force in large public forums.
The Bigger Risk Is Losing Qualified Teachers
- Hankins worries less about cultural attacks on classics than about losing trained teachers of Western civ.
- He notes cultural institutions like the Civ video game shape popular historical periodization with a modernizing bias.
