Course description:
The course introduces students to common themes found in selections from the sacred and canonized literature of three major Eastern world religions. In the course of study, students compare the sacred works according to themes such as creation, facing a great challenge, the fall of man, God’s punishment, sibling rivalry, the rewards of virtue, and the power of love. The sacred works from the East also include views on astrology and acceptance of a relationship between the cosmos and life on earth in excerpts from:
- The Rig Veda and Upanishads (excerpts), Hinduism;
- The Bhagavad-Gita and The Ramayana (excerpts), Hinduism;
- The Wheel of Life (story of Siddhartha), Buddhism;
- The Dhammapada (excerpts), Buddhism;
- The Analects and the I-Ching (excerpts), Confucianism
- The Tao te-Ching (excerpts), Taoism, off-shoot of Confucianism
H106 or H107 may be taken for expanding cultural understanding OR as an elective for the Diploma program, which will also count toward a certificate in Astrological Heritage OR Multi-Cultural Traditions.
Required Text:
Novak, Philip, The World’s Wisdom: Sacred Texts of the World’s Religions, Harper ……Collins, San Francisco, 1995, 425 pps., ISBN 10: 0-06-066342-1
Pre-requisite: none
Weekly topics:
1. Ancient Mid-Eastern influences on Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Sacred Literature Transference
2. Common Ancestor of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
3. Prophets and Proverbs: Forecasts, and good advice
4. A Jew fulfills the Messiah Prophesy in The Gospels
5. Islam emerges from a Common Ancestor: The Koran and forecasting
- Teacher: Carol Tebbs