Upon completing the course, the student will be able to:

• Civic Engagement; Cultural and Social Understanding
• Respectfully engage with people from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds.
• Appreciate the value of religious diversity in the world and in the local community.
• Critical Thinking
• Compare and contrast a variety of religions with regard to elements common to most religions
• Analyze religion as an ever-changing aspect and product of human culture which evolves over time.
• Analyze and engage with challenging questions and topics that religions address.
• Professional Readiness
• Positively interact and cooperate with others in a mutually supportive environment (work, school, community).
• Be a model of tolerance and respect for others.
• What is Religion?
• Discuss the origin of, and assess the efficacy of, the concept of religion.
• Analyze definitions of religion.
• Identify the common features or dimensions of any religion.
• Overview of Major Religions of the World
• Identify the major religions of the world in terms of when and where they developed, who founded them, demographics (size) and geography (spread).
• Distinguish between ethnic and natural vs. universal and voluntary religion, theistic vs non-theistic religion, and eastern vs western religions, etc.
• Theories of Religion
• Identify classic thinkers and their theories of religion.
• Discuss and evaluate a variety of theories regarding the origin and nature of religion in human history (why it is, what it is).
• The Academic Study of Religion
• Identify, apply, analyze, and/or evaluate the different methods and approaches to the study of religion (e.g. psychological, sociological, anthropological, philosophical, theological, historical, phenomenological, etc.).
• Apply these theories in the analysis of a variety of religions.
• Discuss religion from the objective perspective of an outsider.
• The Idea of the Sacred (sacred places, objects, experience)
• Define and use relevant religious terminology, such as theophany, hierophany, the holy, sacred, spirituality, etc.
• Identify a variety of kinds of sacred experience.
• Beliefs about a Higher Power
• Define and use relevant religious terminology, such as theism, atheism, pantheism, monotheism, monism, dualism, polytheism, agnosticism, ultimate reality, etc.
• Existential Questions about Life and the Afterlife
• Define and use relevant religious terminology, such as heaven, hell, reincarnation, karma, sin, theodicy, etc.
• Discuss the problem of human existence as identified by various religions.
• Ways of Salvation (spiritual paths)
• Define and use relevant religious terminology, such as devotion, mysticism, faith, disciplined action, meditation, etc.
• Compare and contrast the different ways that different religions attempt to solve the problem of human existence.
• Ethics and Values
• Define and use relevant religious terminology, such as precepts, natural law, religious law, divine command, deontology, teleology, virtue ethics, etc.
• Discuss how different religions address a variety of moral issues.
• Ritual and Practices
• Define and use relevant religious terminology, such as ritual, rites of passage, sacrament, sacrifice, calendar (or periodic) ritual, etc.
• Distinguish among and explain the different kinds of ritual.
• Identify rituals from a variety of religions and properly classify them according to type.
• Discuss theories of religious sacrifice.
• Scripture and Sacred Texts
• Define and use relevant religious terminology, such as revelation, canon, scripture, closed, open, etc.
• Name a variety of sacred texts and identify the religions associated with each.
• Interpret scripture in a variety of ways.
• Symbolism, story and myth
• Define and use relevant religious terminology, such as myth, metaphor, parable, symbol, representational, presentational, signs, etc.
• Discuss the role and characteristics of myth and other kinds of stories within a religious context.
• Sacred Community
• Distinguish among different kinds of religious institutions and the terms used to identify them: voluntary vs. natural or ethnic, cult, sect, denomination, monasticism, etc.
• Distinguish among and identify different kinds of sacred people: prophets, sages, saviors, clergy, monastics, shamans, etc.
• Discuss how religious institutions evolve and change over time.

Major Topics to be Included

• What is Religion?
• Overview of Major Religions of the World
• Theories of Religion
• The Academic Study of Religion
• The Idea of the Sacred (sacred places, objects, experience)
• Existential Questions about Life and the Afterlife
• Ways of Salvation (spiritual paths)
• Ethics and Values
• Ritual and Practices
• Scripture and Sacred Texts
• Symbolism, Story and Myth
• Sacred Community

Prerequisite:

None