World Religions
This course is a survey of major world religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism. By way of discussing major theories of religion, the very definition of “religion” will be debated at the beginning of the class so student will be aware of both conceptual (as a Western category) as well as political problem around the term and how to deal with it academically. In this class, students will be invited to critically explore the basic tenets, worship and rituals, history, institutions, sects, tradition and cultural practices of each religion in a changing context. Topical discussion will be arranged on central issues like the notion of the divine, scripture and tradition, religious law and authority, sacred space and material culture, religion and political order, ethics as well as the challenge of modernity and globalization. Each religion will be properly discussed both separately as a particular phenomenon and in “dialogue”with other religions to have deeper understanding and wider perspective. Students will also have opportunity to do (online) field trip research in order to facilitate meaningful inter-religious dialogue with diverse religious communities living around the city. That way, students will have a comprehensive knowledge on the subject based on proper intellectual exercise in classroom setting and in dialectical relation with the living reality outside the classroom walls.