PHL 220 RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD



CALIFORNIA STATE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY, POMONA

Course Title: Religions of World

Course Number: PHL 220

Date Prepared: 10/28/99

Prepared by: John Zijiang Ding

I. Course Description

Thematic analysis of religious life: practice, belief, history, relationship between religion, society, and culture. Religions include Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, Taoism, Confucianism, Archaic and Non-missionary traditions, among others. 4 lecture-problem solving.

II. Required Background or Experience

None

III. Expected Outcomes

1.Strengthen students' background in the history of world's philosophical and religious traditions and introduce students to intellectual approaches to world's philosophical and religious questions.

2.Help students to conduct a critical inquiry into several of the more central concepts and problems specific and common to most (if not all) of world's religious thoughts, ontology, epistemology, and moral, social and political philosophy.

3.Develop students' philosophical reading, writing, discussing and reasoning skills.

IV. Text and Readings

Text:

Mary Pat Fisher, Living Religions, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice Hall, 1994

Optional Readings:

David S. Noss & John B. Noss, A History of the World's Religion, Eighth Edition, New York, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1990

Wm. Theodore de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Columbia University Press

Wm. Theodore de Bare, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Columbia University Press

Huston Smith, The Religions of Man

P.T. Raju, Introduction to Comparative Philosophy

J. Legge (Trans.), The Four Books: Confucian Analects, The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, and The Works of Mencius

V. Course Outline

General Introduction

Section I: Christianity

1. Jesus' life and Teaching

2. History of Church

3. Religious Reformation

4. Catholicism and Protestantism in the Modern World

5. Theological Arguments

6. Contemporary Tendency

7. Evaluation of Christianity

Section II: Islam

1. Muhammad's Life and Teaching

2. The Faith and Practice of Islam

3. Culture and Social Ideal of Islam

4. Modern Trend of Islam

5. Theological Arguments

6. Regional Development

7. Evaluation of Islam

Section III: Hinduism

1. The Aryans and Early Indian Culture

2. Brahmanism and the Four Vedas

3. The Upanishads

4. Challenges, Changes and the New Brahmanical Synthesis

5. The Law of Manu

6. The Social, Moral and Political Issues

7. Later Hinduism and the Modern Development

8. Challenges from Jainism and Sikhism

9. Evaluation of Hinduism

Section IV: Buddhism

1. Gautama's Original Teaching

2. The Differences between Hinduism and Buddhism

3. Development of Indian Buddhism

4. Mahayana Buddhism in China and Japan

5. Theravada Buddhism in south Asia

6. Buddhist Practice

7. Contemporary Buddhism

8. Evaluation of Buddhism

Section V: Taoism

1. Taoism as a Philosophy (Lao Tzu)

2. Taoism as a Philosophy (Chuang Tzu)

3. Taoism as a Philosophy (Later time)

4. Taoism as a Religion (Scripture)

5. Taoism as a Religion (Practice)

6. the Taoist Mode of Thinking

7. Taoism in Contemporary China

8. Evaluation of Taoism

Section VI: Confucianism

1. Confucius and His Life

2. Confucius' Ethics, Political Thought and Social Ideal

3. Confucius' Successors--Mencius, Hsun Tzu and Han Fei Tzu

4. Confucianism as the Only Official and Orthodox Philosophy after the Chin Dynasty

5. Confucianism in other Asian Countries

6. Neo-Confucianism

7. Confucianism in Contemporary China

8. The Interaction of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism

9. Evaluation of Confucianism

Section VII: Comparative Study

1. Comparison of Beliefs and Values in the East and West

2. Guest Lecture

VI. Instructional Methods

Students will learn by studying the reading materials, and by participating in class discussions of the readings and issues. The instructor will guide students through the readings, introduce background material, identify major points and issues, clarify key ideas and distinctions, and focus class discussion on particular issues relevant to the films and essays covered. Students will refine and deepen their understanding of the course materials by writing essays on the topics and readings covered.

VII. Evaluation of Outcomes

1.Five quizs 25%

2.One oral speech with a written report 25%

3.a.Participation and class discussion; b.Being group discussion leader once 25%

4.One take-home Essay 25%

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