4021 - Graduate Certificate in Interreligious Studies

This course builds on existing academic strengths at Monash University by bringing together scholars working in the fields of Judaic, Christian and Islamic scholarship. The course will coordinate existing research interests of three centres; Australian Centre for the Study of Jewish Civilisation, Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology, and Centre for Islam and the Modern World, in order to position Monash Arts Faculty as a leading institute in collaborative approaches to interreligious studies.

Students successfully completing this course will be expected to demonstrate:

• a core understanding of the key institutions, beliefs and practices of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
• familiarity with the major texts and the interpretative methods used to promote, preserve and determine their meaning
• appreciation of the historical contexts in which these traditions evolved
• awareness of the commonalities of the respective traditions
• skills which explain historical and contemporary reasons for conflict between the traditions
• an appreciation of the varieties of religious discourse, such as mystical testimonies, political theology, hermeneutical practices and philosophies of law
• awareness of the challenges brought about by the encounter between tradition and modernity and an appreciation of the internal resources available to address such challenges.

Students complete:

• one 12-point core unit
• one 12 point elective unit.

Students complete one of the following core units:

• HYM4175 Interpreting the Bible: Jewish and Christian Perspectives
• HYM4260 Medieval Dialogues: Reason, Mysticism, Society and

plus one elective from the following:

• HSY4840 - Text and community in Renaissance Italy
• JWC4020 - Between homeland and Holy Land: Israel in Jewish thought
• JWM5030 - Jewish history and Jewish memory: writing and reading the Jewish past
• RLT4040 - Islamic thought in the modern world
• RLT4100 - Religion and ceremony in Australian society
• RLT4110 - Sustainability and the sacred
• RLT4400 - Medieval women and their world: constructing identities 1100-1450

Students who complete the graduate certificate with a minimum credit average, may apply to transfer to the related graduate diploma.

Graduate Certificate in Interreligious Studies

* Where more than one award is listed, or in the case of double degrees, where more than one award is listed for one or both components of the double degree, the actual award/s conferred may depend on units/majors/streams/specialisations studied, the level of academic merit achieved (eg in the case of 'with honours' programs), or other factors relevant to the individual student's program of study.