1. | ![]() |
Understanding Judaism | 1) Foundations of Judaism: history and texts 2) Mishnah, Midrash, and Talmud 3) Medieval Sephardic and Ashkenazic Judaism 4) Judaism in the modern world | ![]() |
2. | ![]() |
Understanding Christianity I | 1) The life and thought of Jesus of Nazareth in the Gospels 2) The birth and characteristics of early Christianity 3) How did the Christian canon come into being? | ![]() |
3. | ![]() |
Understanding Christianity II | 1) The medieval church: from the origin to the Reformation 2) The East-West Schism 3) The Reformation: its origin, process and the socio-cultural meaning of denominational split 4) Christianity in the modern world | ![]() |
4. | ![]() |
Understanding Islam | 1) Muhammad and the unfolding of Islam 2) The Five Pillars of Islam 3) Sufism 4) Jihad: Islamic ‘Just War’ theory or Terrorism? | ![]() |
5. | ![]() |
Understanding Taoism | 1) Laozi and Zhuangzi 2) Religious Taoism 3) Internal Alchemy practice | ![]() |
6. | ![]() |
Understanding Confucianism | 1) Historical overview 2) The essential components of Confucian thought: ren 仁, li 禮, junzi君子, tian 天, Wujing 五經, etc 3) The Analects 4) Neo-Confucianism 5) The contemporary situation and influence of Confucianism in China and around the world | ![]() |
7. | ![]() |
Understanding Hinduism | 1) Central concepts in Hinduism: dharma, karma, samsara, caste 2) Introduction to Upanishads and the Bhagavad-Gita 3) Bhakti and the Bhakti Movement 4) The contemporary situation and influence of Hinduism in Indi aand around the world | ![]() |
8. | ![]() |
Understanding Buddhism | 1) A life of the Buddha 2) The Buddha’s teaching 3) Therav?da Buddhism and Mah?y?na Buddhism 4) Buddhism in China 5) Buddhism in Korea 6) Tibetan Buddhism 7) Buddhism in the West | ![]() |
9. | ![]() |
Understanding Shamanism | 1) The shaman and shamanic initiation 2) Shamanic myths, rituals and symbolisms 3) Shamanism in contemporary Korea | ![]() |
10. | ![]() |
Religion and Contemporary Spirituality | 1) The Spiritual But Not Religious phenomenon 2) Thomas Merton: Buddhist-Christian Dialogues 3) Spirituality and Health 4) Religion and Science | ![]() |