The Certificate in World Religions, Peace and Conflict aims at developing the learners’ interpretative skills and cultivating insights into how to do Christian theology in today’s pluralist world. In that, the course will introduce learners to the key belief systems, worldviews, truth claims, rituals, scriptures, etc. of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. Learners will be equipped with conceptual and practical skills in interfaith dialogue that are needed as a good citizen with the aim of promoting peaceful co-existence, mutual enrichment and common witness among the various traditions in a pluralist society. 

The course will enable learners to grasp the politics and hermeneutics involved in the interpretation of religious traditions and their correlation with issues of conflict and peace. It will develop the conceptual and practical skills needed to reinterpret the principles of secularity and religiosity to promote justice, peace and the integrity of the cosmos. It aims at assisting the learners to critique religiously supported conflicts while enabling them to transform faith for peacebuilding.  

Credits: 10 ECTS

Delivery: One evening (Tuesdays) per week (6.30pm – 9.30pm online) for 12 weeks. Scheduled day may be subject to change.

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 

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.

Book Your Place

The next intake of this course commences in September.

Book your place here

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

Closing date: 8th August