Countries: US

This class takes on three of the most important and challenging issues regarding religion, today: religion and violence, religion and science, and religion and spirituality. In this class, we try to track some of the changes that have spawned our unsettling times as we look to a future in which scientific knowledge and spiritual insight can form a partnership.

Analyzes the use of symbols, describes different types of symbolic activity, and observes how symbols play a key role in all human cultural activity, including religion. The class also explores Civil Religion, a form of myth that validates the social order. Key questions are posed about American myths, the “liturgical cycle” of American holidays, and other related issues.

Offers perhaps the clearest view of the relationship between myth and ritual through an examination of primal religion – the worldview of approximately 200 million people. Thomas Drift, a Native American from the Ojibwa nation, discusses the basic characteristics of primal religion, the features of a primal religious worldview, ritual techniques, and the relationship between ritual practices and spirituality in Native American cultures.

Features Cynthia Jones and Patricia Storm, co-founders of the ritual-magic group Diana’s Grove. Myth, magic, ritual, and experience are all part of the recovery of primal religion, a spirituality that is earth-centered as opposed to heaven-centered. Cynthia and Patricia discuss ritual-magic, Wicca, and neo-paganism. They also offer insights into what motivated them to establish Diana’s Grove.

Calls upon Christianity to help illuminate the doctrinal dimension. This introductory program to the doctrinal dimension stresses the inter-relationship of the six dimensions. The lesson explores traditional Christian doctrines, the relationship between certain sacred Bible texts, and Christian doctrinal interpretation.

Explores the religious doctrines that define religious beliefs and practices. The class takes a look at existing tensions between believers of differing doctrines through an examination of basic Christian fundamentals, Protestant sects in Israel, and the biblical book of “Revelations.”

Probes how believers use doctrines (i.e. beliefs about the sacredness of reality) to create a religious lifestyle designed to keep the secular world at bay. Amish and Mormon believers provide a means of comparison as to how their differing patterns of doctrine-inspired behavior control life in their respective communities.

Focuses on the study of Islam and considers the “second dimensional triangle” formed by doctrine, ethics, and society. Students see how Islamic doctrines and ethical practices work together to shape Islamic society. Key Islamic concepts covered in discussion include “The Five Pillars of Islam” (a.k.a. The Five Articles of the Islamic Faith), shirk, shari’a, jihad, the holy Qu’ran, and the meaning behind the prayer ritual.

Offers insights into the Nation of Islam and highlights some of its key figures. Imam W. Deen Muhammad, one of the most influential religious leaders in African American Islam today, explains openly and candidly how his father, Elijah Muhammad, took traditional Islamic doctrines and reinterpreted them to empower and raise self-esteem in African Americans living in a racist society. Also explored is the power struggle between leading figures within the Nation of Islam.