PHIL-251 Religious Worldviews

Credits 3 / 3 Contact Hours
Pre-requisite: Placement into ACRD 080.
An examination and comparison of the histories beliefs and practices of the major world religions. Both Western religions (e.g. Judaism Christianity Islam) and Eastern religions (e.g. Hinduism Buddhism) will be studied. Readings will be selected from scriptures and holy works (for example the Bible the Koran the Upanishads) as well as from commentaries on those works.

Course Outcomes
1. Distinguish the philosophical and theological from the apologetic study of religion 2. Identify some central categories utilized to organize data from the world’s religions (myth, ritual, experience, social institutions, ethics, doctrine) 3. Identify the concepts and practices central to each world religion 4. Draw connections between the various aspects of a particular religious worldview in order to demonstrate their inter-relatedness 5. Accurately describe the way in which religious traditions evolve historically 6 Recognize the ways in which religion may shape aspects of one’s personal identity and social institutions (in terms of gender, race, economic class and ethnicity)