UCL - Introduction to the History of Religions

[THEO1120]

[45h] 4 credits

This course is taught in the 2d semester.

Teacher(s): Sandra Smets

Language: French

Level: First

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

Aims

The student should learn:
- to critically approach the religious phenomenon as it appears in today's major religions: their visions of the world and of the human condition, their relation to the scriptures, their rituals, ethical principles, ways of salvation, etc.;
- to use the basic documentary sources in the field of the historical and comparative study of religions.

Main themes

Through studying selected themes, the major living religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism) are presented and compared in order to show their significant distinctive features and their mutual differences as well as their deep similarities. Comparative critical analysis teaches students how to ignore superficial similarities and discover deeper or hidden correlations and homologies.

Content and teaching methods

The evolution of the concept of " religion " and the development of the sciences of religion. Hinduism : dharma and the sacrificial ritual ; the analysis of karma and the teachings of the Upanishads. Buddhism : the experience of the Buddha, his teachings, his community. Judaism : the people and its faith up to the destruction of the second Temple ; the developments of Jewish thought and spirituality after the birth of Christianity. Islam and its relations to other monotheistic faiths : Abraham and the meaning of the pilgrimage.

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

without object