Logic (High School) and Apologetics (Dual Enrollment with Spurgeon College)

Logic (High School)
and Apologetics (Dual Enrollment with Spurgeon College)
Second Semester – Spring 2025
Instructor: Dr. Mat Kountz

This class will be an applicable introduction to logic. The class will learn what logic is from Dr. Poythress’s book, and then learn to apply it using the poetic logic of two of histories best reasoners.
This course lasts a full school year and gives one high-school credit. I am working with Spurgeon College in KC and should be able to offer 3 college credits, tuition free, in Apologetics to interested students (confirmation coming soon). For the non-college credit seeking students, the three texts of the “required reading” section will need to be read, and each week, starting in the 3rd week, one 2-page reflection paper per week will be written. For those seeking college credit extra writing will be required and possibly extra reading.

Required reading:
• Vern Poythress, Logic: A God-Centered Approach to the Foundation of Western Thought – read to page 221
• CS Lewis – The Weight of Glory – 208 pages
• GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy – 173 pages
The textbooks will teach basics of logic and then apply them to various scenarios. The reading requirement will average 30 pages a week, though week 2 and 3 will be heavier followed by less reading when the Lewis and Chesterton books are read. Students will need to be prepared to engage with the reading each week. The Poythress and Chesterton books are available free in PDF or can be purchase. The Lewis book must be purchased.

Order of learning by week with two 11 week semesters:
Vern Poythress: Logic
1. Part I.A: Introducing Logic and Argument
2. Part I.B: God in Logic
3. Part I.C: The Problem of Classification
4. Part I.D: Aristotelian Syllogisms
C.S Lewis: The Weight of Glory
5. Learning in War-Time
6. Why I Am Not a Pacifist
7. The weight of Glory
8. Transposition
9. Is Theology Poetry?
10. The Inner Ring
11. Membership
12. On Forgiveness
13. A Slip of the Tongue
Gilbert Keith Chesterton: Orthodoxy
14. Introduction: In Defence of Everything Else
15. The Maniac
16. The Suicide of Thought
17. The Ethics of Elfland
18. The Flag of the World
19. The Paradoxes of Christianity
20. The Eternal Revolution
21. The Romance of Orthodoxy
22. Authority and the Adventurer