RLM4600

Living faiths: the search for meaning

(ART)

Robyn Horner

12 points + 3 hours per week + Second semester + Clayton

Synopsis: What happens to us when we die? How does religion make sense of death? This subject concerns the ways in which religious beliefs and practices relate to each another and to life experiences. Taking as its focus beliefs about life and death, particularly as they are found in Christian, Jewish and Buddhist traditions, the subject explores the expression of these beliefs in sacred texts, ritual and wider religious culture, the sources of authority with regard to beliefs within the different traditions, the hermeneutical stances operative within each tradition, and introduces students to religious developmental theory and more general religious phenomenology.

Assessment: Short assignment (1000 words): 10% + Essay (3500 words): 40% + Case study (4500 words): 50%