With the sharp rise in Islamophobia and ideologues issuing statements about religions they have never studied, some professors at Harvard University have come together to educate the public with a free series on religious literacy, studying world religions, over a series of six classes. The classes will be offered online, starting on March 1st.
The first class will be a general approach to religious literacy, followed by specific courses on different faiths, with a goal of covering the following:
- Tools for how to interpret the roles religions play in contemporary and historic contexts;
- How religions are internally diverse
- How religions evolve and change
- How religions are embedded in all human cultures
- The strengths and limitations of learning about religions through their scriptures.
This video introduction, by Diane Moore, outlines the curriculum and the value of the class.
You can sign up for the first class on EdX, the online learning platform created by Harvard. For more about the series, visit their overview page.
Will you take this class? Do you see the value in it? Would you recommend it to parishioners at your church?
Still image taken from introduction video