As mentioned previously, next school year, I will be teaching a class on world religions. The main text that I am going to have my students read is World Religions: The Great Faiths Explored and Explained by John Bowker. Since my students will be teenagers, this book will give them a great overview that is also fairly readable. I also think it’s a great introductory book for adults.
I will supplement their reading with additional texts, including excerpts of religious texts from the religious traditions we will cover. I plan on sharing those with you as this blog series covers those religious traditions as well.
In this post, I want to explore a little bit about what religion is. It is closely connected to some of the key philosophical questions that people ask. Who am I? Why am I here? Is there a god? What is truth? What is right? All religions seek, one way or another, to answer these core philosophical truths. Additionally, religions provide not only beliefs about humanity and the divine, but they also provide practices or rituals as well as a community of fellow believers.
As we move throughout this series, I will be highlighting the core beliefs of the different religions we will look at, as well as what each religion considers its authoritative source and its common practices.
You can find a further definition of religion here.
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Grace Upon Grace (31-Day Devotional).
Melanchthon’s German Catechism translated into English.
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