Religions of the World
Join us for two days to experience the wisdom of the world’s five major religions and develop your own spiritual resources.
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Sat 05 Jul
- Special offer: register two learners on one order and pay only one course fee saving each: $60.00 incl. GST
- $120.00 incl. GST
Sessions
Session 1
Sat 05 Jul 10:00 - Sat 05 Jul 16:00At Selwyn College, Auckland.Session 2
Sun 06 Jul 10:00 - Sun 06 Jul 16:00At Selwyn College, Auckland.Please note there is NO refund or transfer if you cancel less than 5 working days in advance of a class starting. Our refund policy can be read in full here.
Description
Join us for two days to experience the wisdom of the world’s five major religions and develop your own spiritual resources. This course combines theoretical, historical, and practical resources to connect you to divine energies in this world and beyond. In each session we begin with the history and beliefs of the religion under discussion, before moving to practical exercises.
Expected learning outcomes
- Evaluate the place of religion and religious practices in a secular society
- Appreciate the diversity and depth of world religions
- Learn from spiritual practices that religious communities practice today
- Apply wisdom and learning from religious traditions to daily life
Course outline
The course is structured around six themes to draw on the traditions of Christianity,
Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Through this thematic structure, students
will be introduced to the main tenets of these world religions and explore key spiritual
practices related to each theme.
Intro: What is religion and what do world religions believe?
- What is ‘religion’? How does it shape our world?
- Introduction to the basic history and core tenets of five world religions:
o Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
o Eastern faiths: Buddhism and Hinduism
Time: How world religions teach us to inhabit time
- Religious festivals and seasons in Christianity and Islam
- Judaism as an “architecture of time” (Abraham Heschel)
- Key practice: Shabbat
Relation: How world religions reflect our mutual belonging
- Buddhist teachings of the interconnected nature of all things
- Shared religious emphases on hospitality to the stranger
- Key practice: table fellowship
Prayer: How world religions draw us to contemplate the Divine
- Muslim practice of Salah (five-daily prayer)
- Meditation in Buddhist and Hindu traditions
- Key practice: silent or contemplative prayer
Liberation: How world religions call for an alternative world
- Liberation theology and radical Christianity
- Charity and Zakat in Islam
- Key practice: works of mercy
Doubt: How world religions reveal a reality which exceeds us
- Talmudic debate in Judaism
- The “death of God” and religious atheism
- Key practice: arguing with God
Death: How world religions prepare us for suffering and death
- Islamic and Christian ideas of the afterlife
- The immortality of the soul in Buddhism and Hinduism
- Key practice: ancestor veneration
Course Approach
Participation in this course does not require subscription to a particular religious faith
or tradition. Students are expected, however, to bring an open mind, a respectful
posture, and a spirit of mutual aid and learning. The course will be both theoretical
and practical, encouraging thoughtful reflection on religious faith and practice in our
contemporary moment.
What to bring
Your lunch and materials for note-taking.
About tutor Andrew Clark-Howard
Dr Andrew Clark-Howard is a Pākehā scholar who works at the University of Auckland and St Johns Theological College. He holds a PhD in theology and
religious studies from Charles Sturt University and lives with his partner Steph in Tāmaki Makaurau.
