Buddhism & Catholicism

Catalog description

This course will enter into the contemporary dialogue between Catholicism and Buddhism, exploring both the fundamental differences and the possible affinities between them. In addition to becoming acquainted with another major world religion, students will be presented with fresh perspectives for approaching Catholicism's own rich heritage of mysticism, monasticism and social service. Students will pursue comparative study of such topics as the relation between religious language and experience, concepts of the self and ultimate reality, the causes of and remedies for human suffering and the meaning of spirituality as an engagement with the world, not a flight from it.