Religious Studies 001Course Outline
Module 1: Ways of Studying Religions
Module 2: Different Forms of Religious Sensibilities
Unit 1: Hindu/Buddhist
Indus Valley Civilization and the early Indo European Immigrants
The Moksha and Dharma Ideals
Social and Religious Responses to the Upanishads: Dharmashastras, Bhagavadgita, and Buddhist Ideals
Buddhism: From One Man’s Answer to the Problems of Samsara to a World Religion
Unit 2: Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist
The Syncretic Ideals of Wisdom in the Far East
The Philosophical Ideals of the Confucian School
Taoism and East Asian Buddhist Thought
Unit 3: Judiasm, Christianity, and Islam
The Western Monotheistic Traditions
Christianity
History of Christianity in Europe and the Rise of Islam in Arabia
Islam: Its History and its Practices
Module 3: Future Directions in the Study of Religions
Why Study Religions?
The predisposition to religious belief is the most complex and powerful force in the human mind."
- Edward O. Wilson, Professor of Zoology, Harvard University quoted in Wall Street Journal, Millenium Edition.
"It is not possible for humanity to live in a world without any focus, and will to order orientation is fundamental in the human nature."
-Huston Smith, Professor of Religion, University of California, Berkeley
"Religions are many and diverse, but reason and goodness are one."
-Elbert Hubbard The Roycroft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams, 1923
"Religion is the recognition of all our duties as divine commands"
-Immanuel Kant
"The religious is any activity pursued in behalf of an ideal end against obstacles and in spite of threats of personal loss because of its general and enduring value."
-John Dewey
"Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is."
-Mohandas K. Gandhi
"Religion, whatever it is, is a man's total reaction upon life"
-William James The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1902