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Provides an overview of Christianity, the world's largest religion, and discusses why, in addition to being vast and popular, it is also extremely complex and often highly contradictory. Explains why the central figures, elements, and creeds of Christianity are hard to fathom yet give Christianity its distinctive character. Covers topics such as Christianity's birth and expansion across the Mediterranean world, the development of its doctrine, its...
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Lecture series covering the Hindu religion. Hinduism is one of the world's oldest living religious tradition, with roots deep in the ancient cultures of the Indus Valley civilization and the Aryan society from Central Asia, which combined to create a highly diverse family of religions and philosophies. Topics explored in detail include the sacred scripture the Veda, transmigration of the soul, reincarnation, and karma. Hinduism can be both monotheistic...
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Presents a series of twenty-four lectures that examines in detail the New Testament. Professor Bart Ehrman discusses its form, the methods of composition, its authors and their original audiences, and the surrounding historical context. He focuses on questions of historical evidence and explanation rather than on issues of religious belief and theological truth.
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English
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The Old Testament is one of the foundational documents of Western civilization. In this course, viewers will study a selection of the major books of the Old Testament, probing their meaning and relevance. Among these, viewers will explore the prophets, the wisdom literature, and the apocalyptic literature, finding their deeper historical and religious import, as well as their sublime literary treasures.
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Lecture series that surveys the history of Buddhism, from its origins in India in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.E. to the present day. Buddhism challenges some of the most important Western ideas about God, human life, and the self. In Buddhism, there is no single almighty God who created the world. Instead, Buddhism teaches that all of life is suffering, and there is no permanent self. Moreover, it teaches that in accepting that all life is suffering,...
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"This course traces the history of biblical Israel from its origins in the central highland villages just west of the Jordan River (1200 B.C.E.) to its emergence as a nation, and, then, a pair of kingdoms. It examines the impact of political and military domination by the successive empires of Assyria and Babylonia that resulted in the disappearance of the northern kingdom of Israel and the exile of the southern kingdom of Judah to Babylonia."--page...
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"When does the Jewish Sabbath begin? Who are Vishnu and Shiva? What are Buddhism's Four Noble Truths? What are the Five Pillars of Islam? These questions are more than an academic exercise. Religious belief has been innate to humans everywhere and in every age, from the time of the Neanderthals to the 21st century. It's also one of the strongest motivators of human behavior and has a profound impact on all aspects of our culture; our spiritual beliefs,...
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How did Judaism develop from its biblical roots to the highly developed system we know today? What has changed and what has remained constant? The answers to these questions are relevant to all faiths, as well as to anyone seeking to broaden their understanding of ancient history - a past that is inexorably linked to the present. The roots of Judaism reach back to the Hebrew Bible - also known as the Old Testament by Christians. For thousands of years,...
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Lecture series that surveys the history, traditions, and practice of Judaism from biblical times to today, with explanations of the major aspects of Jewish culture. Focuses on Judaism from within and how it is understood by its adherents, past and present. Covers topics such as the sacred books of Judaism, modes of worship, the calendar and holidays, and rites of passage such as bar and bat mitzva and marriage. Illustrates how Judaism reinvented itself...
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English
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This guide to the historical and intellectual background of the John of Patmos' Apocalypse includes a close reading of the text, focusing on the meaning of its images and details the wide-ranging impact of the book on Christian and Western history. Dr. Koester examines its meaning in John's day and how it continues to be meaningful to contemporary readers, for some as a book of predictions and others as a work of literature, while it remains for most...