Brian Williams

Welcome to the Templeton Honors College!

Since its founding in 1999, the Templeton Honors College has been committed to forming students in the classic tradition of Christian liberal arts education. This tradition was begun by early Christians in North Africa and Asia Minor, developed in monasteries and universities during medieval Europe, and was carried into the modern era by educators like John Henry Newman, Anna Julia Cooper, and C. S. Lewis. It is now sustained by institutions like the Templeton Honors College and others. Within that tradition, our academic community aspires to help students cultivate the practices of wonder, leisure, love, and worship through a curriculum built around great questions, great books, and great conversations. 

Templeton’s sequence of thirteen carefully designed and integrated seminars represent an alternative way for undergraduate students to meet their general education requirements at Eastern University. This means Templeton students can also pursue any major or minor the University offers, from Philosophy to Data Science, Dance to Nursing, Biochemistry to Business, Theatre to Theology. Therefore, the Templeton Honors College prepares students to become wise and virtuous servants and leaders no matter what profession they pursue or where in the world God calls them. 

At Templeton all the questions are on the table, especially the permanent human questions: What is a good life? Why is there suffering? What is justice? What is a flourishing society? Does beauty matter? What is knowledge? How do I love my neighbor? And who is God? But we don’t ask these questions in a vacuum; rather we ask them in a community shaped by the spiritual and intellectual practices of the historic Christian faith, which grounds our common life together.

This philosophy of education carries through each academic program offered within the Templeton Honors College, including:

  • The high school Summer Scholars Program for rising juniors and seniors,

  • An Undergraduate General Education Program, and

  • A Master of Arts in Teaching for classical school educators.

You can learn much about life in the Templeton Honors College through our website, but I would  encourage you to visit our beautiful campus, sit in on a class, and meet the scholars and students who make this a truly exceptional place.

-Dr. Brian A. Williams

“Our motto, CUM GRATIA OFFICIUM, points to our guiding principle of Christian stewardship. In the Templeton Honors College we call our students away from mediocrity, irresponsibility, cynicism, and ingratitude and into lives of Christian stewardship. We remind them that their education liberates them to know the true, do the good, love the beautiful, worship the holy, and serve their neighbors by any means ready to hand.”