Beginning with a look at stoicism and its legacy, this course traces the intertwined strands of medieval literary creation and religious and philosophical thought. Students begin with an exploration of Stoic philosophy's core principles, focusing on understanding what is within our control and cultivating virtue and resilience in the face of life's uncertainties. The course then traverses the spiritual landscape of the Middle Ages through Augustine, Boethius, and Aquinas exploring their answers to questions about the nature of the good life and the role of faith and reason in such a life. Contributions from these thinkers as well as Ibn Sina, Ockham, and Anselm, are largely united by their commitment to monotheistic religion as well as to the project of how to reconcile their respective religious beliefs to the philosophical heritage of ancient Greece and Rome. Among the central philosophical questions covered in the medieval period are how to demonstratively prove the existence of God and how to deal with apparent conflicts between philosophical reason and divinely revealed scriptures. After these systematic explorations of religious and philosophical questions, students engage the literature of the period, getting a glimpse into the worlds of Dante and Chaucer. Students discover literature as a laboratory of human experience, engaging with the moral, philosophical, and humanistic themes that resonate through The Divine Comedy and the Canterbury Tales. This literary survey fleshes out students’ understanding of medieval society, the human condition, and the power of storytelling.