General information

• Study points: 4.00
• Language: English
• Category: Lectures
• Duration: 26.0 hours 
• Periodicity: Taught this academic year in the second semester
• POC: POC Theology and Religious Studies

Taught by

XXX Martin Sebastian

Aims

• To offer a general insight on Buddhism.
• To help students develop intellectual and cordial attitudes toward a fruitful interreligious dialogue between Christianity and Buddhism.

Content

• A general introduction to Buddhism. Can we speak of Buddhism as a religion? Thus, we begin by looking at the different definitions about religions and place Buddhism in the context of other religions. A classifications of religions will also be offered.
• An overview of the issue of religions in the religious anthropological scheme: a description of the pre-axial and axial religions.
• Time will be dedicated to study the life of Buddha, history of Buddhism, its development and the different families within Buddhism.
• Also an overview of the Buddhist cosmology, ethics and rituals will be offered.
• The students will be introduced to the reading of some selected Buddhist Sacred texts.
• A comparative study of some of the core beliefs and doctrines in Buddhism and Christianity will also be offered.

Course Material

Required reading:

• Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching, New York: Broadway Books, 1999. (+/- 10 Euros)

Course activities

• The course will be divided into 13 titles or themes, to be developed in the process of the 13 weeks of the academic period. Some of the themes will be offered to the students to enable them to make class presentations. 
• Depending on the size of the group, a seminar-style methodology can be adopted.
• The students shall receive a 200 pages syllabus with the content of the subject given by the professor.
• Also a book will be given to complement the content of the syllabus.

Evaluation description

When?: final examination during examination period

Explanation

Examination type: paper with oral exam.

• At the end of the academic year an 8-10 pages essay will be presented by every student on the issues related with Buddhism and Christianity. Is Buddhism a religion? In what sense can we speak of Buddhism as a religion? What can Christianity learn from Buddhism? What can Buddhism learn from Christianity? What aspects do they have in common? What is it that makes them different? Etc… Other topics are also possible (especially students engaged in studies such as anthropology, Sinology, etc…) with the prior agreement with the professor.
• This paper shall be presented to the professor during the last day of class of the academic year.
• This paper will be defended during the oral exam (15 minutes: three questions asked from the content of the paper alone)

• For the students who participate with the presentation of a topic (20-30 minutes) in class, the length of their papers does not need to exceed 5 pages on the same questions. There will be no oral examination for the students who chose this modality of work.