AD317 Religion Today: Tradition, Modernity and Change:
An Arts and Social Sciences Course

AD317 Home

What's this course about?

Religion in context

What will I study?

What will I study?

Course Content and Structure

The course is divided into seven sections. The three-week Course Introduction introduces some of the key issues and concepts in contemporary religious studies.

After this, there are five blocks of themed case studies and discussions, each linked to a study guide and to a section of the Course Reader. You can choose which four of the five blocks to study.

The Course Conclusion brings together and reinforces the themes that dominate the course.

The various course materials - the course books, the study guides, the Course Reader, the Illustration Book, audios and videos - are designed to acquaint you with diverse religious phenomena as well as a variety of approaches to them.

The audios and videos enable you to encounter a range of spiritual practices and practitioners that might otherwise be unavailable to you, and stimulate both interest in and understanding of various contexts and controversies within the study of religion.

Follow the links below to find out more about the various course components:

• course introduction
• block 1: From Sacred Text to Internet
• block 2: Religion and Social Transformations
• block 3: Perspectives on Civil Religion
• block 4: Global religious movements in regional context
• block 5: Belief Beyond Boundaries
• course conclusion

Read an extract from the course materials online

Religion today: themes and issues represents around 15 hours’ study. It’s freely available from the OpenLearn website for you to study in your own time, away from any formal teaching environment. You can choose to use the site as a ‘guest’ or create a profile to log in and communicate with other learners.

Note this course runs for the last time in February 2012.