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World Religions:

General Course Information



Buddhist stupa (above) and footprints of the Buddha (right) representing
his life and teachings


World Religions is a multi-disciplinary Humanities course that meets for a double block of time each day and counts as the students' English and History credit for the ninth grade. The course incudes elements from various disciplines, including literature, history, philosophy, religion, music, and the fine arts. Everything in the course revolves around the theme of world religions, and students are expected to acquire knowledge about the faith traditions of the world in addition to examining some of the great questions of humankind. The course is divided into eight units, as follows:

1 / Introduction to Religion
2 / Judaism
3 / Christianity
4 / Islam
5 / Hinduism
6 / Buddhism
7 / Taoism & Confucianism
8 / Primal Religions

 

A Sample of Introductory Documents and Materials:

 

Texts for the Buddhism Unit:


Organization of This Site:

Each of the links at the left leads to a different section of the unit. For each section, you will find factual and discussion questions based on the main text, Huston Smith's World Religions (these questions, which I have written over several years, serve as a sort of "catechism," guiding students through reading that can be difficult). Next you will find a list of readings appropriate for each section from the primary source text, The World's Wisdom. Finally, each section contains numerous resources, readings, idead, and activities appropriate for a wide variety of high school student levels, as well as photos and artwork having to do with the topic.

 

This site was created by James C. Blynt at the NEH Summer Institute
"Cultures and Religions of the Himalayan Region," held at the College of the Holy Cross,
Summer 2006