The samples featured here mostly come from OpenLearn and iTunes U. They are taken from various points in the courses - some are relatively simple introductions but others are more complex extracts from the later weeks. Remember
you can also view course books and study guides at many public libraries and at OU regional and national centres.
Introducing Religions (A217)
- the iTunes U album contains a variety of short films on The architecture of a mosque, An important shrine in Delhi, Hinduism in an Indian village, Varanasi: An important religious site, The evolution of Hinduism, The place of Enlightenment, Becoming a Buddhist monk, Everyday Jewish life, Greek orthodox Holy communion, Three different Sikh temples, The importance of music in Sikhism, Initiation into a Sikh sect, and A Sikh school; or go to the OU podcasts version.
- A217’s course information website also includes short extracts of text on Buddhism and Islamic dress.
From Enlightenment to Romanticism c.1780-1830 (A207) - interdisciplinary course
- 10 units on OpenLearn explore the following subjects: The Enlightenment (study week 0, 16 hours); Hume (study week 3,16 hours); The French Revolution (study week 5, 16 hours); Goya (study week 6, 5 hours); Napoleonic paintings (study week 8, 16 hours); William Wilberforce (study week 10, 16 hours); Robert Owen and New Lanark (study weeks 17 and 18, 12 hours); Schubert’s Lieder: settings of Goethe’s poems (study week 27, 16 hours); Brighton Pavilion (study week 30, 16 hours); Delacroix (study week 32, 16 hours).
Religion in History: Conflict, Conversion and Coexistence (AA307)
- the iTunes U album includes audio tracks on Christianity in context, Byzantine and late Roman religions, The crusades, and The Bengal Renaissance; or go to the OU podcasts versions.
- AA307’s course information website also features brief extracts from Study Guide 4, which focuses on The Death of Christian Britain: Understanding secularization 1800-2000. These include the contents page and the beginning of section 1 ‘Introduction, Aims and Objectives’;
the opening paragraphs of section 2 ‘The Death of Christian Britain: Understanding the Thesis’ and the final pages of section 5 ‘Women, Priesthood and Ordination: Women’s Ordination and the Argument of The Death of Christian Britain’.
