| COURSE NUMBER: |
THEO 396 |
| COURSE TITLE: |
Understanding Eastern Religions |
| NAME OF
INSTRUCTOR: |
David Goa |
| CREDIT WEIGHT
AND WEEKLY TIME DISTRIBUTION: |
credits 3 (hrs lect 3 - hrs sem 0 - hrs lab 0) |
| COURSE
DESCRIPTION: |
A study of the major eastern religious traditions with
a focus on Buddhism. Understanding Buddhism will form the centerpiece
of this course. A detailed examination of the various religious
traditions that are connected to Buddhism within its various contexts
in East Asia (i.e., Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Confucianism, Daoism
and Shinto) will be included. Attention will also be paid to the modern
interpretations of some of these traditions, especially in the North
American context. The focus of the course is to understand Eastern
Religions (and Buddhism in particular) from the perspective of their
historical development, NOT to critique them.
Prerequisites: THEO 250
This course does not fulfill theology foundation
requirements. |
| REQUIRED TEXTS: |
Huston Smith, The World’s Religions (HarperCollins, 2009).
|
| MARK
DISTRIBUTION IN PERCENT: |
|
| Weekly Quizzes |
30% |
| Class Presenations and First Essay | 30% |
| Final Essay |
30% |
| Participation |
10% |
|
100% |
|
| COURSE OBJECTIVES: | - To develop an understanding of each of the religious traditions and their way of engaging the central questions of human life.
- To learn how the study of religion cultivates literacy necessary for living well in a pluralistic society.
- To
glimpse the fruit of interfaith dialogue as a means of deepening one’s
own faith tradition and one’s knowledge of the challenges facing all
human being given our form of modernity and current geo-political
issues.
|
| COURSE
SCHEDULE: |
- 4 January Introduction to the course
- Discussion of the aims, requirements, and opportunities of the course
- What do you love about religion and what concerns do have about it?
- Why the study of religion matters
- Our approach to the study of religion in this course
- Discussion of books for class presentation and reader response essay
- 11 January Our faith and religious tradition and that of others
- Quiz 1 : How do I define religion and the spiritual life?
- Defining religion and faith, sacred and secular, faith and culture, tradition and modernity
- Engaging the spiritual disciplines of religious traditions
- Engaging
the historical and contemporary demands of religious history,
disciplines, and modern culture including contemporary geo-political
issues
- 18 January The dialogue between religions, past and present
- The challenge and gift of dialogue: missteps, best practice
- What Christianity teaches us about engaging the faith of others?
- Religious pluralism and the Canadian cultural and historical landscape
- State sponsored religion, freedom of religion and the civil life
- Homeland and new land: challenges and opportunities
- Student presentation & discussion
- 25 January 300 Million Deities
- The Christian encounter and conversation with Hinduism
- Student presentations & discussion
- 1 February Hinduism in Canada
- The world of 300 million deities
- Discussion with the Hindu priest
- Jain, Buddhist and Sikh presence in the Temple
- 8 February The Middle Way: Buddhism
- Quiz 3: Buddhist tradition
- The Christian encounter and conversation with Buddhism
- Student presentations & discussion
- 15 February Buddhism in Canada
- Buddhist Temple field trip
- Discussion with Buddhist devotee
- First essay is due prior to this class
- 19-23 Reading Week, no classes
- 1 March A variety of Buddhist pathways
- Discussion with Buddhist devotees
- Student presentations & discussion
- 8 March The Double-Edged Sword: Sikhism
- The Christian encounter and conversation with Sikhism
- Student presentations & discussion
- 15 March Sikhism in Canada
- Discussion with Sikh devotee
- 22 March The Confucian world of filial piety
- Quiz 4: Confucian tradition
- The Christian encounter and conversation with Confucianism
- Student presentations & discussion
- 29 March The spirit of Taoism and nature’s way
- Student presentations & conversation
- 5 April Religion and the challenges of the twenty-first century
- The place of religion in current geo-political issues
- Religion, gender and human rights
- Pluralism and public religion
- Religion and “our common world”: ecology & economy
- 12 April Spiritual Discipline and the Restoration of Creation
- Engaging difficult scriptural texts
- Tolerance, dialogue, spiritual friendship
- The civil life and religious pluralism
|
