Unlock a profound understanding of the world’s major religions and their impact on peace and conflict with the Certificate in World Religions, Peace, and Conflict. This part-time course is designed to enhance your interpretative skills and deepen your insight into Christian theology within today’s diverse and pluralistic society.

Explore the core beliefs, worldviews, rituals, and scriptures of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. Gain valuable conceptual and practical skills in interfaith dialogue, essential for fostering peaceful coexistence, mutual enrichment, and shared understanding among different religious traditions.

Our course examines the politics and interpretation of religious traditions, showing their connections to conflicts and peace. You’ll learn to rethink ideas about secularity and religion to promote justice, peace, and the well-being of the world. Engage with religious conflicts, like those in Gaza, and use your faith to help build peace.

Join us and become a catalyst for positive change in our interconnected world.

Credits: 10 ECTS

Course Practicalities

Course will be delivered on Tuesday evenings from 6.30pm – 9.30pm online for 12 weeks.  Scheduled day may be subject to change.

Next course will run from September 2025

Topics covered in the course include:

• Christian approaches to other religions: Exclusivism, Inclusivism and Pluralism
• The three phases of progression of major religious traditions 
• Analysis of scriptures of world religions and their specific historical, geographical and soteriological contexts
• The historical interactions of Christianity and other religious traditions (parting of ways of Christian and Jewish communities, Islam’s recognition of Jesus as a prophet, Hinduism’s Unknown Christ, Jesus as a bodhisattva in Buddhism and the Buddha as a saint in Christianity) and the ways in which misunderstandings can be overcome.
• Various interfaith initiatives of the churches and other religious traditions
• Exploration of the ways in which religions can practically contribute to address common ethical concerns in the public sphere through interfaith dialogue.
• A critical evaluation of religion’s role in violence and peace by engaging with various theoretical positions 
• Identification of the historical trajectories of interpretations of religious traditions either to support war or peace.
• A critical analysis of various fundamentalist forms of religions and their relationship with the political field.
• An analysis of how the intersection between faith and reason has promoted non-violence and just-peace in the world 

Assessment

Learners will be assessed via an in-class presentation and a 2,500-3,000 word essay.

Entry Requirements

Applications are assessed on a case by case basis in accordance with Carlow College Admission Guidelines and Procedures for Part-Time Learners

Fees

Course fees are €350 and payable at registration.

The next intake of this course commences in September 2025. Applications open in May.

To join a waitlist to be notified when the next intake opens, please email marketing@carlowcollege.ie

Please note payment in full is required at time of booking.