World Religions

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"It is a stubborn fact that non-Christian religions are radically different from Christianity."     — J. I. Packer

     This Southern Nazarene University course deals with the beliefs and practices of the religions (other than Christianity) of our world. It is similar to those courses sometimes titled Comparative Religions. This course will give students an understanding of religions such as Animism (including Wiccan), Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and others.

     During the semester, we will utilize not only written materials and lectures by the professor, but also videos and appearances by guest speakers from those religions. Fortunately, for the purposes of this course, we have some great resources in the Oklahoma City area for doing field trips.

     Plus: Keep your ears open during the semester. If you discover a student on campus who has grown up in one of these religions, let me know. We can try to have them come to class for an interview.

• Syllabus
• Syllabus for course by directed study
• Video viewing guides
  • Animism: Living in the dreamtime -- Australian aborigines
  • Buddhism -- Religions of the world series
  • The desert blooms: The Muslim world
  • Divine Horsemen: The living gods of Haiti
  • Faith Lessons: Rabbi
  • The Faith of Islam
  • Faith of Our Neighbors -- world religions in Oklahoma
  • Gaining a better understanding of Sikhism
  • The God Next Door
  • Gods of India: Helping Christians understand India and Hinduism
  • Great Religions of the World
  • Islam: Unlocking the door
  • Magical Curing and Delivered from the Power of Darkness
  • Origins of India's Hindu Civilization
  • Roots and wings (Judaism in the U.S.)
  • Sacred memory
  • Sacred text and stories
  • Sacrifice to Allah
  • Sikhism
  • Touching the timeless
  • Understanding Hindu traditions
  • Walking with the Buddha
  • World God Loves: World religions overview segment plus segments on Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam
  • World of Unreached Peoples: Islam

• Crossword puzzle
• Related case studies:
  • Communal feast -- protection from evil spirits in Java
  • Shintoism/Christianity clash
    • Neighborhood celebration
    • U.S. President's visit to Shinto shrine
  • Buddhism/Christianity clashes
    • Buddha pedestals in Thailand
    • Lily Liu's baptism
    • My son is marrying a Buddhist!
  • Islam and Christianity: How should Bashir be buried?
  • Hinduism/Christianity clash
    • Food offered to Hindu gods
    • Bible translation in India - a word for God
  • Chart of six major world religions

  Recent World Religions class during a field trip to Oklahoma City's Hindu temple

• Messianic Judaism terminology
• Zoroastrianism - student PowerPoint presentation on history, beliefs and practices
• PowerPoint: World religions overview | download as PowerPoint
• Live-and-let-live? Some devotional reflections on Luke 5 and 6
• Exam study guides [ click here ]

What past students have said

"It has helped me take a critical look at what I believe and why."
"It opened my eyes to how diverse even Oklahoma is."

Sample student paper: Visit to worship service

Links to world religions resources on the Internet

How to cite internet sources in your papers

Writing Standards

Most courses at SNU contain a writing component. I expect students to produce written work that is focused, well developed, organized and relatively free of grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors. Papers falling short of this standard will not be graded. That work will be returned to the students for further revision and resubmission. See my writing checklist.

Oklahoma City's Hindu temple

One would expect to find a Hindu temple in India. But in Oklahoma City? [ read more ]

Other SNU Missions Courses

Howard Culbertson, Southern Nazarene University, 6729 NW 39th, Bethany, OK 73008  |  Phone: 405-491-6693 - Fax: 405-491-6658
Copyright © 2000, 2001 - Last Updated: September 10, 2012 |  URL: http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/worldrel.htm