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Cultural Literacy for Religion: Everything the Well-Educated Person Should Know

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Cultural Literacy for Religion: Everything the Well-Educated Person Should Know

By: Mark Berkson, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Mark Berkson
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About this listen

According to polls conducted by Gallup and the Pew Research Forum on Religion & Public Life, the majority of Americans fail basic tests about religion, including tests on their own faith. This is troublesome because religious literacy is about so much more than naming deities or knowing the stories of ancient history. For many of us, religion is a way to examine and understand ourselves.

Moreover, religious literacy – the knowledge of basic teachings, symbols, practices, founders, institutions, and values of the world's religious traditions - can shed new light on the world around us and knock down the boundaries between us, making us better neighbors and better citizens. These 24 enlightening lectures offer you the chance to experience the breadth and depth of the world's religions from all angles – historical, theological, and cultural. They take you on a tour of the world and its religious cultures. From India to East Asia to the Middle East to the United States, your journey with Professor Berkson introduces you to the beliefs and practices of other traditions and provides you with new insights into your own.

The course approaches each religion from an "imaginative insider's perspective." What does the world look like from the perspective of someone within each tradition? What does this person value and care about? What are the everyday scriptures, rituals, traditions, and holidays like?

Along the way, you'll discover certain features that are common to many religions – concepts of divinity, scripture, rituals, and explanations of good and evil - and you'll find new ways to attain greater self-understanding.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2012 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2012 The Great Courses
Spirituality Inspiring
All stars
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This was such a great course, even for someone like myself who is quite educated in religious thought. I learnt quite a few things I didn't know and it's made me want to dig even deeper.

A must!

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Not enough in-depth material but not wide-reaching enough either. Completely skipped Zoroastrianism which is an important religion in it's own right but also had a huge influence on Christianity and Islam. Would have liked to have heard about the Greek, Roman, Celtic and Norse pagan traditions in the context of their relationship with modern religions too.

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