Unit 1 - Introduction

• Critical Empathy

  • Relationship with others lens

  • Critical: using our faculties like observation, judgement, understanding, and classification (asking critical questions and using proper judgement)

  • Empathy: the ability to “feel into” another’s religions tradition

  • Pillars of critical empathy

    • Mythological: stories and records of the past serve to establish and maintain tradition

    • Material: physical dimension, manifest not only in the works of people, but in the preservations of artifacts and sacred places

    • Doctrinal: leaders and scholars have sought to provide a systematic explanation of what adherents are meant to believe

    • Ethical: religious beliefs underpin a value system defined by laws that promote specific behaviors

    • Experimental: all religions are responses to certain significant experiences of their founders and followers

    • Ritual: practices to which a religious tradition adheres and which provide a spiritual awareness

    • Social: organizational structures that provide for the collective experience of adherents and identify the group within the wider society

• Holy Envy

  • Relationship with self lens

  • Holy envy: a sentiment felt for one aspect of another tradition that is enviable

  • I feel holy envy for

    • Judaism’s sense of community

    • Buddhism and Hinduism’s emphases on letting go and being more flexible

    • Islam’s specific methods of praying

• Nostra Aetate

  • Intellectual understanding lens

Unit 2 - Islam

• 5 Pillars

  • Shahada: one God + prophet Muhammad

  • Prayer: 5x/day, face Mecca

  • Fasting: Self-discipline, commemorates Hirja

  • Wealth sharing: 2.5% of all possessions for those who can afford

  • Pilgrimage (hajj): Allah forgives your sin if you make the journey

• Qu'ran & Sunna

  • Qu’ran

    • 114 suras (chapters)

    • Offers complete worldview — way of life, culture, society, governance

  • Sunna

    • Teachings of Muhammad (separate from Qu’ran)

    • Muhammad is human but revered

    • Hadith: model for being muslim

• Life of Muhammad

  • Born 570 AD, orphaned, married Khadija

  • 610 AD: Angel Gabriel appeared, told him to “Recite / Proclaim” 3x (night of power & excellence)

  • Had to flee (hirja)

  • Made Medina and Mecca holy cities

Unit 3 - Hinduism

• Brahman / Atman

  • Brahman: the source/essence of the universe, the grounding of all existence

    • Can be achieved differently by different people

  • We shouldn’t hurt other beings because ultimately we’re all one

• Samsara & Moksha

  • Samsara: wheel of rebirth/reincarnation

    • Death isn’t final, everything is reincarnated

  • Moksha: infinite release; escape from reincarnation

    • Many paths to attain (marga)

• Dharma & Karma

  • Dharma: ethical duty

    • Sacred duty, moral guidance

    • Love everyone, reject selfishness

    • Determined by gender, caste, stage of life

  • Karma: moral law of cause and effect that determines the nature of your reality

    • Explains “luck” and privilege

• Marga (3 types)

  • Karma marga: doing the right thing because it is the right thing (not for reward, recognition, or success)

  • Jnana marga: study with many texts and teachers to become detached and see self in third person

    • Often involves yoga and meditation

  • Bhakti marga: loving devotion to one’s god or goddess

    • Focus more on gods/goddesses than needs and desires of self

    • Worship through prayers, visiting shrines, candles, offerings, incense, rituals, visiting temples

Unit 4 - Buddhism

• Life of Buddha

  • Born around 560 BCE, died around 480 BCE

  • Warrior Class; Feudal Lord (very privileged)

  • Parents made sure he never encountered any suffering

  • Encountered suffering during the four passing sights at ~20

  • Deprived of senses, then gave into

  • Created middle way

• Concept of self

  • Must discover self to achieve nirvana

  • Accept that not everything about self is real

• 4 Noble Truths

  • Life is discomfort (dukka)

  • Suffering is caused by desire (tanha)

  • Suffering can stop

  • This can be done through the eightfold path

• Nirvana

  • Enlightenment

  • Final nirvana happens at bodily death

Unit 5 - Judaism

• Chosen People

  • God sees them as a holy nation, a treasured possession

  • God will keep his deal with Jewish people if they keep theirs with him

• History & State of Israel

  • Very controversial

  • Jews emigrated to Israel before WWI

  • Was part of the Ottoman Empire

  • The League of Nations in 1922 recognized the need for a Jewish homeland

    • Many international treaties before and after reaffirmed this

  • This land was already occupied

  • Palestinians and Jews both claim the land as their homeland

    • Very complicated conflict

    • Many countries declared war on Israel

• Holocaust / Sheol

  • More than exile, inquisition—anything that’s been faced before

  • Shook the faith of many Jewish people; common questions included