New St. John鈥檚 College Master鈥檚 Program Bridges Jewish and Islamic Traditions Through the Great Books鈥攁nd Conversation
Santa Fe, N.M.鈥痆June 25, 2025] 鈥� St. John鈥檚 College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has announced a new graduate program that reshapes what it means to study the Great Books in the 21st century. The Master of Arts in Middle Eastern Classics (MAMEC) offers a one-year, in-person course of study focused on the great texts of Jewish and Islamic civilizations鈥攖exts that are often overlooked in Western curricula, but which have shaped the course of philosophy, religion, and poetry across centuries.
While these two traditions have often been portrayed as being in tension, MAMEC will provide students a singular opportunity to immerse themselves in the original Jewish and Islamic texts, far from the rhetoric of the last 150 years of Middle Eastern politics. Together, faculty and students will learn through the close reading of original texts and respectful discussion what philosophers such as Maimonides, Rumi, 鈥業bn al-鈥楢rab墨, and Judah Halevi thought and wrote. Students will read English translations of great works from both traditions, while also having the choice between studying classical Arabic or Hebrew.
鈥淭hese texts are not marginal or secondary writings and once stood at the center of the West鈥檚 intellectual life,鈥� says David Carl, associate dean of the graduate programs. 鈥淏y giving these texts their rightful place alongside the classics of ancient Greece and modern Europe, St. John鈥檚 continues our essential and ongoing work of revisiting and revising the Western canon in light of its fuller, richer intellectual inheritance.鈥�
Faculty on the college鈥檚 Santa Fe, New Mexico, campus spent more than 15 years studying and developing the new program. Ahmed Siddiqi, a former faculty member and ongoing curricular advisor to the program, addresses the tendency to overlook centuries of human thought: 鈥淚t鈥檚 very common to go from an author like Augustine, who died in the fifth century, to authors like Anselm and Thomas Aquinas who died in the 12th and 13th centuries. One of the things we attempt through this program is to close that seven-century gap in scholarship.鈥�
MAMEC is rooted in St. John鈥檚 almost 100-year tradition of reading primary texts in small, conversation-driven settings. Its curriculum includes the Hebrew Bible, Islamic philosophy, classical and medieval Jewish and Muslim thought, Persian poetry, and mysticism. Students also study language, and choose Hebrew or Arabic, allowing for more direct access to the original texts.
The new master鈥檚 program was established thanks to the generosity of the college鈥檚 donors and alumni. It was made possible through a $1 million anonymous matching grant, met by lead gifts from Santa Fe residents Pamela Saunders-Albin and Richard and Cheryl Groenendyke. Their support enables the college to offer this new opportunity while preserving its distinctive model of shared, seminar-based education.
鈥淚n this program, students don鈥檛 just encounter two religious or intellectual traditions鈥攖hey encounter one another,鈥� says St. John鈥檚 College President J. Walter Sterling. 鈥淭hrough slow reading, shared inquiry, and serious conversation, they begin to see the common questions at the heart of both traditions鈥攁nd, perhaps, the shared humanity at the heart of all education. At a time when polarization is often presumed, the seminar table remains a place where differences can be explored without division.鈥�
Saunders-Albin, an honorary alumna of the college and Vice Chair of the college鈥檚 Board of Visitors and Governors, shares: 鈥淭he launch of the Middle Eastern Classics program couldn鈥檛 be more timely. Once again, St. John鈥檚 lives up to its reputation of being the most contrarian college in America by offering a study of ancient wisdom without the modern noise of secondary sources.鈥�
Richard and Cheryl Groenendyke, Graduate Institute alumni and longtime donors to the college, also support the effort: 鈥淥ur experience at the Graduate Institute opened up a lifelong commitment to serious inquiry and meaningful dialogue. We鈥檙e pleased to support a new program that builds on that foundation and expands the reach of this kind of education. The MAMEC program is a way for more people to access the rigor, beauty, and generosity of spirit that define St. John鈥檚.鈥�
Applications for Fall 2026 open in September. For more information, visit
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In an age of political division and digital distraction, St. John鈥檚 College offers the education America needs. Through close reading of 200 great books across 3,000 years鈥攆rom Plato to Toni Morrison, Augustine to Charles Darwin, Euclid to Albert Einstein鈥攕tudents wrestle with the deepest questions of law, justice, freedom, and human good. At a time when many institutions chase trends, St. John鈥檚 returns to first principles. The third-oldest college in America, with campuses in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Annapolis, Maryland, St. John鈥檚 is a refuge for civic renewal, civil discourse, and intellectual courage. Learn more about our undergraduate, graduate, and lifelong learning programs at www.sjc.edu.
鈥淪t. John鈥檚 is a high-achieving angel hovering over the landscape of American higher education鈥� 鈥擫os Angeles Times
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Carol Carpenter, VP, Communications, St. John鈥檚 College Santa Fe, , 323-459-4661 (text for quicker response)
Sara Luell, Senior Director of Communications and Operations, St. John鈥檚 College Annapolis,
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