Explore the nature of faith with Comparative Religion, an in-depth look at how five great faiths address core issues—including creation stories, concepts of the divine, and ultimate goals—in parallel and different ways. These thought-provoking lectures are your opportunity to understand how Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism answer the numerous questions with which all religions must contend. At a time when religiously grounded issues are prevalent in our world, get the knowledge needed to view the world's faiths with what interfaith expert and Professor Charles Kimball calls "a native eye."
Explore similar courses.
Travel across time and around the world to explore these questions and more in God against the Gods: The History of Monotheism and Polytheism. Taught by acclaimed Professor Robert Garland of Colgate University, these 12 thought-provoking lectures introduce you to the world of comparative religion, giving you insights into a variety of religious expressions and human cultures.
Whether one acts as an individual, a local community member, or part of a broader fellowship of believers, the approach to religion remains the same: viewing religion and religious life from the inside. What changes, however, when the approach to religion comes from the outside? How do scholars study the ways the religious experience is felt, shared, and communicated? How do they explain how this extraordinarily powerful force can define and shape the communities it creates? In Introduction to the Study of Religion, Professor Charles B. Jones offers a vibrant look at the discipline known as religious studies.
Grasp the role of spiritual belief in cultures with this intriguing course set. Start with Sacred Texts of the World, which examines the written religious texts at the core of both major and lesser-known faiths around the world. Then turn to Cultural Literacy for Religion: Everything the Well-Educated Person Should Know to understand why religion matters so much to so many of the world’s peoples, and embark on a comparative study that will help you grasp each faith’s precepts and put current events into context.
Christianity is the largest and most global religious tradition in history. For nearly 2,000 years, the Christian faith has remained at or near the center of Western moral debate and conceptions of human identity, just action, and ultimate meaning. It has both shaped history and responded to history, showing an extraordinary adaptability within greatly differing cultures. Its practice and influence appears in every land and every language, and one-third of humanity now affiliates in some way with Christianity. Now, in 36 enthralling lectures, The History of Christianity: From the Disciples to the Dawn of the Reformation tells the phenomenal story of Christianity’s first 1,500 years, in all its remarkable diversity and complex dimension.
Get the latest on new courses, sales, learning tips, site updates and community events.