Introduction to Religions

Catalog description

The course is an introduction to the academic study of religion. The initial part of the course takes up definitions and theories. A wide variety of the world's religions are then discussed, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Emphasis is placed on each religion's origins and historical development, concepts of the divine, worldview, sacred texts, main doctrines, and modes of teaching and worship. The course utilizes a number of approaches, namely, the philosophical, the theological, the historical, and the anthropological.