Invitation to World Religions

Why study religion? To study religion is to better understand the history, literature, and art of the world. Convictions arising from religious belief have produced movements of mass violence as well as inspired achievements in the world’s great artistic, architectural, philosophical, literary, and other modes of human expression. Learning about other religious systems can help us better appreciate influential perspectives that have shaped the world. Ultimately, encountering other belief systems and moral visions helps us look afresh at our place in our own societies.

This is the 1st semester of a full year course looking at six major faith traditions: Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and African diasporic. Members of these 6 branches make up the majority of the world’s population and today can be found in every continent, if not every city, across the globe. While a single course cannot begin to do justice to the geographic breadth, communal diversity,…