Course Description:
This course is an introduction to the beliefs, spiritual practices, and history of the world's major religions. It examines the formative and classical periods of each tradition and considers their various responses to modernity to provide a spectrum of developments during the pre-modern, modern, and post-modern periods. The course studies "Eastern" religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism) in the first half, and "Western" religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) in the second half, concluding with primal religions. The course also looks comparatively at the teachings and practices of each religion to aid students in making valid descriptive comparisons and contrasts.
Course Requirements:
| Quizzes |
30% |
| Mid-term |
30% |
| Final |
35% |
| Class Participation |
5% |
Quizzes will be based on a glossary of terms for each unit of study, usually given on the last day of the unit.
The mid-term and final will consist of essay questions, and there is a range of choice between questions, e.g. choose three of four.
Class participation is based on the university's attendance policy.
Required Reading:
Fisher, Mary Pat Living Religions. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2005.
Novak, Philip. The World's Wisdom: Sacred Texts of the World's Religions. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994.
Course Outline:
1. Introduction - methodological issues.
2. The Hindu Tradition: Hindu origins - classical Hinduism.
3. Developments over the centuries - Hindu ritual - Hindu experience today.
4. The Buddhist Tradition: the Buddha - teachings.
5. Theravada - Mahāyāna - Vajrayāna - Buddhism in the modern world.
6. East Asian Religions: Confucianism.
7. Taoism - the modern world.
8. The Jewish Tradition: Biblical period - Hellenistic period - Rabbinic Judaism.
9. Medieval Judaism - Jewish observances - the modern world.
10. The Christian Tradition: Christian origins - Imperial Christianity.
11. Medieval Latin world - Protestant Reformation - Roman Catholicism after 1500 - the modern world.
12. The Islamic Tradition: Historical background - prophethood and revelation -the caliphate - Shī'ism - Islamic law.
13. Islamic philosophy and theology - Islamic mysticism - Islamic art - the spread of Islam - the modern world.
14. Primal religions.
15. Traditions in contact - conclusion.