DC Public Library System

Comparative religion, the Teaching Company

eng

Course guidebook includes professor biography, statement of course scope, lecture outline with notes, timeline, glossary, biographical notes, and bibliography

videorecording

Comparative religion

289011447

the Teaching Company

720

The Great courses. Religion

What, exactly, is religion? Why does one religious tradition often differ so markedly from another? Why--despite their common source--are the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam so different? What kinds of factors separate the beliefs of a Hindu or Buddhist from the 'people of the book' and from other sects of Hindus or Buddhists? Religion affects everyone's life, whether directly or indirectly, and as religious issues become more prevalent in public and private life it is important to understand this powerful force and its impact on so many. These lectures explore the key ideas of religion itself--issues that repeatedly surface in any faith's beliefs, practices, and organization--to help viewers grasp religion's complex and multidimensional nature

Part 1. Disc 1. Lecture 1. Comparative religion : who, what, why, how ; Lecture 2. Exploring similarities and differences ; Lecture 3. The sacred, the holy, and the profane ; Lecture 4. Sacred time, sacred space, sacred objects ; Lecture 5. Sacred people : prophets, sages, saviors ; Lecture 6. Sacred people : clergy, monastics, shamans -- Disc 2. Lecture 7. Sacred signs, analogues, and sacraments ; Lecture 8. Creation myths and sacred stories ; Lecture 9. From sacred stories and letters to doctrine ; Lecture 10. Sacred texts : the Bible and the Qur'an ; Lecture 11. Sacred texts for Hindus and Buddhists ; Lecture 12. Polytheism, dualism, monism, and monotheismPart 2. Disc 3. Lecture 13. From birth to death : religious rituals ; Lecture 14. Daily, weekly, annual religious rituals ; Lecture 15. Ritual sacrifice in the world's religions ; Lecture 16. The human predicament : how to overcome it ; Lecture 17. The problems of sin and forgetfulness ; Lecture 18. Breaking through the illusion of reality -- Disc 4. Lecture 19. The goals of religious life ; Lecture 20. The way of faith and the way of devotion ; Lecture 21. The way of action and the way of meditation ; Lecture 22. The way of the mystics ; Lecture 23. The evolution of religious institutions ; Lecture 24. Religious diversity in the 21st century

adult

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