MA

IN

THE

HUMANITIES

Applications for the 2026–27 year of our Master's in the Humanities program are now open. The deadline for priority consideration is December 18th, 2025. The regular deadline is February 27th, 2026.

How to apply

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Overview

Ralston College’s MA in the Humanities charts its course through Western civilization, from the Greek world of Homer, through Ancient Rome and Medieval Europe, into the Renaissance and up to our modern era. The setting of our four terms parallels this arc by beginning in Greece and then moving to Savannah, Georgia. The curriculum unites the most profound and provocative works of literature, philosophy, and art, inspiring and challenging students to approach the human condition with fresh eyes. Yet to cover this ground in a single year of intense intellectual study requires careful steering and selection.

For 2026–27, that focus will be provided by the theme of “Beauty”, a subject that our multidisciplinary curriculum will trace through philosophy, music, architecture, art, and literature. Beauty—as it manifests in the natural world, in art, and in the moral actions of individuals and societies—lies at the center of Western culture and thought. By learning to appreciate beauty and to distinguish its authentic appearance from superficial counterfeits, our students will be equipped to confront the urgent task of cultural renewal.

Program Structure

Term

I:

Greece

The Greek language and the spirit of Hellenism are the longest threads that run through the humanities, in all of their forms, as expressed across every epoch of the Western tradition. Beauty lay at the heart of the Greek educational system of paideia, which sought to form people who were kalokagathoi, “beautiful and good.”

For centuries, the ability to access the foundational texts of this inheritance directly—without translators, commentators, or any other intermediaries—was a nearly universal prerequisite for the meaningful encounter with, and entry into, its cultural inheritance. It is for this reason that our program begins with an intensive language residency in Greece.

This innovative pedagogical module, which approaches every form of the Greek language simultaneously, enables the study of Greek texts over the three subsequent terms. Undertaking this ambitious project in Greece itself not only allows for complete linguistic and cultural immersion but also helps forge deep friendships through communal life as a cohort and through group excursions to some of the major ancient sites of the Hellenic world.

Terms

II,

III,

IV:

Savannah

Three terms in Savannah will then follow: we will focus first on the Greco-Roman era, then turn to the Middle Ages, and finally consider a range of cultural masterpieces from post-medieval Europe through to our modern world. We will explore how not only Beauty but several profound themes that animate the western tradition develop and unfold across time, by considering works of philosophy, theology, and the creative and imaginative arts.

Intense scrutiny of specific works will be paired with ambitious, wide-ranging surveys. We will supplement our studies with concerts, symposia, guest lectures, and other events that will enrich our main curricular program. Taken together, the academic itinerary of these terms and their chronological sequence will provide integrated knowledge—and experience—of the West’s intellectual, spiritual, and historical trajectory.

Our

MA

Students'

Own

Words

Explore the intellectual journeys of four recent graduates of our MA in the Humanities program. In the following videos, students reflect on why they enrolled at Ralston, what they learned, and those they met along the way, revealing how the College's curriculum spoke uniquely to their circumstances and interests.

Theme

Beauty

Through an intensive engagement with the role of beauty in the Western tradition of art and thought, students will wrestle with profound questions that go to the very heart of human experience. If beauty is the “splendor of truth, as Plato claimed, how do we ensure that our attraction to beautiful objects and people in the world helps us—rather than hinders us—in the pursuit of beauty as a transcendent reality? Why have human beings so often found beauty in experiences of suffering and loss? What does the transition from the simple stillness of Classical architecture to the complex dynamism of the Gothic reveal about Pagan and Christian understandings of divine beauty? Can beauty “save the world”, as Dostoevsky believed, and, if so, how? How might our perception of beauty in symmetry and order inform not only our artistic pursuits but also our understanding of human community? By pursuing questions such as these in an environment of fellowship and free inquiry, students will confront beauty as a profound and challenging reality that must be sought with courage, humility, and steadfastness.

Lecture in the Cave of Pythagoras, Greece.

Aims

While this MA year naturally leads into further advanced study and careers in a wide range of fields, it aims at something more fundamental still: to provide its participants with the depth of knowledge, analytical acuity, and enriched imagination that are the basis for both individual flourishing and the renewal of our culture at large. Indeed, the intellectual effort that this demanding program of study entails—extensive reading, intense discussion, and deep thinking—will necessarily prepare its graduates to meet the great challenges of our time.

Every civilization needs sympathetic interpreters who are capable of cherishing the cultural treasures that form its foundations; a world in need of renewal requires a vital and synthetic vision, combining materials from different moments in new and unexpected ways. By fostering friendships with mentors and peers in the present, and with the writers, thinkers, and artists of the past, Ralston’s MA in the Humanities will help recreate the conditions of human flourishing—precisely by incorporating its graduates into the very tradition which they themselves will go on to transmit.

Course Catalog

Course

Catalog

If you wish to dive more deeply into the details of applying to and studying at Ralston College, we encourage you to explore our Course Catalog. In it you will find much more information, including on the goals of the MA program, as well as admissions, assessment, vocational preparation, expectations for academic integrity and conduct, and more.

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