Assessment

Continuous Assessment 40% + Essay 30% + Exam 30%

Module Aims

This module examines the relationship between the Catholic Church and major world religions, focusing significantly on developing learners' interpretative skills for theologizing in today’s pluralistic contexts. To achieve this aim, this module will introduce learners to the Catholic Church's perspectives on other faith traditions envisioned in Nostra Aetate and the origins, belief systems, worldviews, truth claims, rituals, and scriptures of various non-Christian faith traditions. Such a process will equip the learners with conceptual and practical skills to promote peaceful coexistence, mutual enrichment, and common witness among the various faith traditions in a pluralist society.

Indicative syllabus:

• key concepts in the study of religion, and the paradigm shifts in Christian approaches to other faith traditions.

• The origin and development of major World Religions:

• Judaism

• Islam

• Buddhism

• Hinduism.

• Their sacred scriptures and their intersections with gender, social issues, and environmental stewardship.

• Christian initiatives in interreligious dialogues and some examples of interreligious dialogues:

• Jewish-Christian Dialogues

• Muslim-Christian Dialogues

• Buddhist-Christian Dialogues

• Hindu-Christian Dialogues

• Exposure to different faith traditions in Ireland through an opportunity for a guided visit to places of worship in Dublin.

Learning Outcomes

• — Define key concepts in the study of religion and theologies of religion.
• — Explain the paradigm shifts in Christian approaches to other faith traditions.
• — Discuss the relationship between Christianity and the major world religions as that is set out in Nostra Aetate.
• — Describe the origin, development, scriptures, social institutions, and essential beliefs of a select number of the World Religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam).
• — Identify and engage with the commonalities, differences and complementarities between Christianity and other religious traditions.
• — Explore possibilities and challenges for interreligious dialogue.

Bibliography

• — Casey, C.J., and F. Ryan (eds.), The Church in Pluralist Society: Social and Political Roles (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2019).
• — Cornille, C. The Wiley-Blackwell companion to inter-religious dialogue, (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013).
• — D'Costa, G. Christianity and world religions: disputed questions in the theology of religions (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell; 2009).
• — Lane, Dermot A., Stepping Stones to Other Religions: A Christian Theology of Inter-Religious Dialogue (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2011).
• — O'Donovan, J. Understanding differently: Christianity and the world religions, (Dublin: Veritas, 2012).
• — Recommended Reading
• — Brennan, K. Buddhism (New York: Britannica Educational Publishing, in association with Rosen Educational Services, 2018).
• — Corduan, Winfried. Neighbouring faiths: a Christian introduction to world religions (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2012).
• — Deming. W (ed.)., Understanding the religions of the world: an introduction (Massachusetts: John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2015).
• — Doniger, W. On Hinduism (New York: Oxford University Press; 2014).
• — Lopez, D.S. Buddhism (London, Allen Lane, 2001).
• — Maher, M. Judaism: an introduction to the beliefs and practices of the Jews (Blackrock: Columba Press, 2006)
• — Schouten, J.P., Jansen, H. The European encounter with Hinduism in India (Leiden: Brill, 2020),
• — Siddiqui, M. Islam (London: Quercus Edition Ltd, 2016).
• — Starr-Glass, D. Judaism (London: Kuperard, 2009).