UCL - Questions of religious sciences: reflections about christian faith

[TECO1002]

[15h] 2 credits

This course is taught in the 1st semester.

Teacher(s): Philippe Goffinet

Language: French

Level: First

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

By the end of this course , the student should be able:
- to confront him/herself in a personal and critical way with the reflection developed during the lectures about the Christian faith, and to argue his/her position, showing that he/she is conscious of the complexity of the questions at stake, also when confronted with various philosophical and religious traditions.
- to clarify the complex relationship between Christian faith and modernity, paying attention to the different language' levels and to their relevance in the context of the reflection about the meaning of life.

Main themes

In order to achieve these objectives, the instructor makes a critical presentation of certain central themes of the Christian faith (e.g. Scriptures, Christ and God, the human being in the world, the Church, etc.) in dialogue with the modernity. He/she shows how to distinguish the different language' levels, illustrating their respective relevance in our intelligence of truth. The basic awareness of the plurality of religious and laic approaches protects the discourse from close-mindedness, opening it to different traditions and to other approaches.

Content and teaching methods

This course is intended to become aware of the fact that the question of religion and spirituality has not disappeared from modernity. It is recomposed even around the individual and his concern of meaning.

It is in that context that we take up again the question of Christianity and its pertinence in modern society, but we will focus our research on the person of Jesus of Nazareth (in order) to recover his originality and motivating power.

So we will argue that this person, Jesus, brought back to his authenticity, may still help women and men to find reasons to live and to hope in a culture and a society deeply marked by the fatalism, and to exercise their liberty and their responsibilities.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

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