Course description
If you think that life is not just about money and power – if you want to have a meaningful and purposeful life -- then you have a spiritual orientation to life, you have spirituality.
As you pursue meaning and purpose, you will encounter the worldviews, the symbols, the teachings and practices of religion. And there, you will find sublime beauty and hideous ugliness; you will find truth and ignorance; you will find both clarity and confusion.
In this course, you will learn how to navigate the ocean of spirituality and religion—by personally experiencing religious concepts and practices; by bringing religion into dialogue with natural and social science; by bringing different religious traditions into dialogue with each other; and by bringing religion into dialogue with contemporary social reality. And the first stage in this journey, is to put aside our preconceived notions, and to explore and understand the beliefs and disbelief of others.
This is not a conventional introductory course on religion. The course combines approaches from philosophy, psychology, anthropology, sociology and theology, and discusses issues relevant to consciousness and perception, the environment, ethics and social justice. It will give you completely new perspectives on spirituality, on religion, and on yourself. This is not a course to preach a religious doctrine, nor does it treat religious people and practices as strange and exotic objects of study. Religion is often conceived of in terms of divisions -- between insiders and outsiders, between believers and non-believers, between this religion and that religion, between religion and science, between tradition and modernity, and so on. But in this course, these divisions will be questioned and undermined, and you will be asked to step out of the comfort zone of your current "belief," "unbelief" or "uncertainty". You will explore and experience new ways of imagining spiritual reality, coming into contact with it, and putting it into practice.
You will do so in a manner which is personally meaningful, appropriate for critical analysis, and relevant to your engagement in the processes of social change. Society is undergoing a resurgence of religious beliefs and practices. Many of us are personally committed to spiritual or religious beliefs, are engaged in what could be “truth seeking”, or at the very least have many questions of a spiritual nature. As faith in secular ideologies declines, there is a growing tendency to turn to religious traditions as conceptual and social resources for personal growth and social engagement. But is this appropriate or even right? In the past few decades the world has witnessed a dramatic resurgence of spiritual seeking and religious engagement in society, in ways that may be either constructive or destructive. Given the historical record, is it realistic to expect religion to provide answers to personal and social problems?
Open to believers, agnostics, skeptics, atheists and seekers, this course will give you exposure to, and an opportunity to engage with, the spiritual heritage of humanity: you will discuss passages from the scriptures of the world’s major religious traditions, as well as spiritual themes contained in popular feature films. You will visit religious communities and experience their practices. You will critically consider the contemporary social implications of spiritual principles when applied to questions of truth and knowledge, power and authority, conflict and cooperation, and sacrifice and service. You will reflect on whether these approaches to human spiritual life are part of the cause or part of the solution for global social problems.
Is there a god? Do we have a soul? Does our life have a spiritual purpose? How can I judge the claims of different religions? Is there a difference between being “spiritual” and “religious”? What is a spiritual life? Each of you will find your own answers to these questions, and our questions and answers are always evolving. This course will not provide you with definitive answers. But it will help you to clarify the questions, the concepts, and the knowledge you need to seek answers.
Why are there so many conflicts between religions? What is the connection between religion, politics and violence? Is it progressive, or is it opposed to social change? Is religion a constructive or destructive force in society? By the end of this course, you should be able to identify the factors which lead to religion having a positive or negative impact on individuals and society.
How can I judge, evaluate or appreciate the spiritual and religious dimensions of my own cultural heritage? We live in an increasingly globalised world; there are more and more chances that our friends, family members, fellow students and co-workers may come from different cultural and religious backgrounds. How can I better understand and appreciate their beliefs and values? Cultural diversity is far too vast to be adequately covered in a single course, but this course will give you basic exposure to the world’s main systems of religious belief and practice.
As you pursue meaning and purpose, you will encounter the worldviews, the symbols, the teachings and practices of religion. And there, you will find sublime beauty and hideous ugliness; you will find truth and ignorance; you will find both clarity and confusion.
In this course, you will learn how to navigate the ocean of spirituality and religion—by personally experiencing religious concepts and practices; by bringing religion into dialogue with natural and social science; by bringing different religious traditions into dialogue with each other; and by bringing religion into dialogue with contemporary social reality. And the first stage in this journey, is to put aside our preconceived notions, and to explore and understand the beliefs and disbelief of others.
This is not a conventional introductory course on religion. The course combines approaches from philosophy, psychology, anthropology, sociology and theology, and discusses issues relevant to consciousness and perception, the environment, ethics and social justice. It will give you completely new perspectives on spirituality, on religion, and on yourself. This is not a course to preach a religious doctrine, nor does it treat religious people and practices as strange and exotic objects of study. Religion is often conceived of in terms of divisions -- between insiders and outsiders, between believers and non-believers, between this religion and that religion, between religion and science, between tradition and modernity, and so on. But in this course, these divisions will be questioned and undermined, and you will be asked to step out of the comfort zone of your current "belief," "unbelief" or "uncertainty". You will explore and experience new ways of imagining spiritual reality, coming into contact with it, and putting it into practice.
You will do so in a manner which is personally meaningful, appropriate for critical analysis, and relevant to your engagement in the processes of social change. Society is undergoing a resurgence of religious beliefs and practices. Many of us are personally committed to spiritual or religious beliefs, are engaged in what could be “truth seeking”, or at the very least have many questions of a spiritual nature. As faith in secular ideologies declines, there is a growing tendency to turn to religious traditions as conceptual and social resources for personal growth and social engagement. But is this appropriate or even right? In the past few decades the world has witnessed a dramatic resurgence of spiritual seeking and religious engagement in society, in ways that may be either constructive or destructive. Given the historical record, is it realistic to expect religion to provide answers to personal and social problems?
Open to believers, agnostics, skeptics, atheists and seekers, this course will give you exposure to, and an opportunity to engage with, the spiritual heritage of humanity: you will discuss passages from the scriptures of the world’s major religious traditions, as well as spiritual themes contained in popular feature films. You will visit religious communities and experience their practices. You will critically consider the contemporary social implications of spiritual principles when applied to questions of truth and knowledge, power and authority, conflict and cooperation, and sacrifice and service. You will reflect on whether these approaches to human spiritual life are part of the cause or part of the solution for global social problems.
Is there a god? Do we have a soul? Does our life have a spiritual purpose? How can I judge the claims of different religions? Is there a difference between being “spiritual” and “religious”? What is a spiritual life? Each of you will find your own answers to these questions, and our questions and answers are always evolving. This course will not provide you with definitive answers. But it will help you to clarify the questions, the concepts, and the knowledge you need to seek answers.
Why are there so many conflicts between religions? What is the connection between religion, politics and violence? Is it progressive, or is it opposed to social change? Is religion a constructive or destructive force in society? By the end of this course, you should be able to identify the factors which lead to religion having a positive or negative impact on individuals and society.
How can I judge, evaluate or appreciate the spiritual and religious dimensions of my own cultural heritage? We live in an increasingly globalised world; there are more and more chances that our friends, family members, fellow students and co-workers may come from different cultural and religious backgrounds. How can I better understand and appreciate their beliefs and values? Cultural diversity is far too vast to be adequately covered in a single course, but this course will give you basic exposure to the world’s main systems of religious belief and practice.
Learning outcomes
On completing the course, students will be able to:
1. Engage in self-reflective dialogue with others on issues of spiritual and social concern.
2. Compare expressions of religion and spirituality emanating from different cultural and religious backgrounds.
3. Apply scientific perspectives and concepts to analyse, interpret and evaluate spiritual concepts and their associated social and religious practices.
4. Evaluate the appropriateness of different forms of spiritual and religious engagement for improving the human condition in the context of an emerging global society.
1. Engage in self-reflective dialogue with others on issues of spiritual and social concern.
2. Compare expressions of religion and spirituality emanating from different cultural and religious backgrounds.
3. Apply scientific perspectives and concepts to analyse, interpret and evaluate spiritual concepts and their associated social and religious practices.
4. Evaluate the appropriateness of different forms of spiritual and religious engagement for improving the human condition in the context of an emerging global society.
Required readings
Required readings will be posted to the class Moodle. There will generally be one article of around 20 pages to read per week. The assigned readings are based on transcriptions of last year’s course lectures. Additional suggested readings from books and academic articles are also uploaded to the class Moodle site. This course website (cchu9014.weebly.com) also contains additional materials and resources, including embedded videos and links. Please read the materials for each week BEFORE the lecture on the week’s topic.
Required films
You are required to view the following feature films on your own: Avatar, Hero, Gandhi, Les Misérables. In lectures and tutorials we will discuss the relevant spiritual themes and principles.
Field visits
You are expected to take part in THREE visits to religious communities, out of a selection of visits that have been arranged with the Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Daoist, Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh communities. The visits are experiential and you will participate in religious practices. Please DO NOT sign up for a visit to your own religion.