Charles Lloyd Garrettson

Charles Lloyd Garrettson

Charles Lloyd Garrettson

Assistant Professor

Religion and Politics; Christianity; Plato; Taoism; Comparative Religion; Philosophy; Ethics; Philosophical Theology; History

I grew up in Allentown, PA. Particularly, 3-6 grades given education excellent program. I went away to The Hill School at age 14. Since then I have earned degrees from The University of Virginia [1972-1975, B.A. Religion Honors Program, Philosophy-Theology], Yale University [1976-1978, M.A.R., Political Theology], and Ph.D. from UVa in Christian Social Ethics [1979-1986, Honors]. Dr. Hartt teacher/mentor...father/son...from 1972 to his death 2010. I have lived in Charlottesville, VA, New Haven CT, and Pottstown, PA. My career has been teaching at both the secondary and higher ed levels, first at Muhlenberg College, then The Hill School, and finally at George Mason University. My non-professional passions have included photography, hiking/backpacking, sailing, music and motorsports. Perhaps my greatest passion is engaged conversation about the things that really matter. This I have done with the greatest of pleasure with my closest friends and my students for my entire adult life. My daughter Hadley lives in Philadelphia, PA with her husband Cam and her beloved cat Eloise. 

Current Research

A personal odyssey through stroke and after-effects: pain to portal to Divinity

Can virtue be taught? and why asking is important: a defense of the Humanities and Liberal Arts Education

Abraham Lincoln and the Duke of Chou

Reason unrarefied: the curious conclusion of Plato's Theaetetus

Selected Publications

“Colonel Landslide,” Foreign Service Journal, January, 1988

“Is George Will Actually a 20th Century Liberal in Disguise?”, New Oxford Review, April, 1988 

“The Continuing Irony of American History,” New Oxford Review, June 1989

“Home of the Politics of Joy,” South Dakota History, Fall, 1990 

“First Time,” Hakol, April, 1991

Hubert H. Humphrey and the Politics of Joy, Transaction Publishers, 1993

“Towards an Uncommon Admissions Position,” NACAC Journal, Spring, 1997. 

“An SL Odyssey,” The Viewfinder, April, 2021

Awaiting publication: 

    • Can Virtue Be Taught?: a defense of liberal arts education
    • “Abraham Lincoln and the Duke of Zhou”
    • “Reason Unrarefied: the Theaetetus as a case study in Platonic Relevance” 

Grants and Fellowships

The Skinner Fellowship

Brody Fellowship

Courses Taught

Rel 100: Human Religious Experience

Reli 211: Religions of the West

Reli 330: Religion, Fantasy and Imagination

Reli 331: Religion in America

Reli 333: Spiritual Autobiography 

Reli 384: Global History of Christianity

Reli 388: Does God exist?

Reli 420: Senior Seminar: Religious Studies Methodology

Reli 425: Directed Readings in Religious Studies

Reli 600: Interdisciplinary Pathways in the Study of Religion

 

Education

The Hill School

The University of Virginia, BA Philosophical Theology

Yale University, MAR Religion and Politics

The University of Virginia, PhD Christian Social Ethics

Recent Presentations

Center for Humanities Research panel discussion: How to conduct research in the Humanities...and why? Spring, 2021