History of Religions: The World Religions

The purpose of the course is to increase students understanding of the basic contents, expressions, and social functions of world religions, i.e. Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddism, and, to a lesser extent, other religions in Asia. In addition, the course aims at conveying a phenomenological perspective, by singling out and comparing general religious phenomena.At the end of the course, the student is expected to be able to: - be able to account for the basic tenets and character of world religions - display general knowledge of world religions so that they are able to analyse similarities and differences between them - demonstrate an understanding of the difference between the idiosyncratic essence of a particular religion and/or religious phenomenon, and common traits of religious phenomena.