Spring 2026 Reading Group
Reading Niebuhr in Troubled Times
Our reading group this semester is Reinhold Niebuhr’s The Irony of American History. This classic book has come to be regarded as an iconic analysis of American self-awareness, even to those who may not agree with all that he has to say.
We will start next week on Tuesday, February 3 at 7:00 pm and meet every Tuesday for about six or seven weeks. This study is progressive and cumulative (meaning each week will build upon what has already been read and discussed) so it will work best if participants can commit to coming most weeks. It is not a great study for dropping in one week.
Reading Niebuhr: Irony of American History
Tuesday Feb 3, 7:00-8:00, open at 6:30. Meets weekly.
Schole House, 819 S. Cathedral Place, VCU
Isaiah Knopp will be coordinating the particulars on this group and a good deal of the leading. If you are contemplating joining, please contact Isaiah so that we can prepare accordingly. iakga66@gmail.com
Previous Reading Groups
Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow
This fall, we will be reading the great Wendell Berry: farmer, novelist, professor, activist. Berry’s fiction reflects the “rootedness and responsiveness” of place, and the relationships, both joyful and complex, of the humans that abide there. We will be reading Jaber Crow and one or two essays, starting in the last week of September. For more information, or to sign up, contact Missy.
819 Cathedral Place, Third Floor.
Scholé Holds Spring Reading Group
For the first time in four years, Scholé House hosted a book group, reading Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Road. This dark and dystopian novel follows an unnamed father and son as they leave their city apartment and head towards the sea in hopes of life or at least a warmer climate. The father’s greatest ambition is survival. His son, a child of about 10, wants something more. There are few people left in this grim, post-apololyptic world, but most of those are very scary, and sometimes it’s hard to tell who the good guys are. The vivid writing, spiritual imagery, and impossible moral scenarios made for lively discussion with our participants.
We look forward to our next group!
