God and Mankind: Comparative Religions
Overview
About
01: Why Nothing Is as Intriguing as the Study of Religion
The series is introduced with a definition of the word religion. Why should we study it? Dr. Oden establishes how we should best study and compare religions.
02: Orienting Humanity—Religions as Spiritual Compasses
The many ways religions explain the origin of the universe are compared. The effects of different theories of origin on other aspects of religious belief and even religious architecture are also analyzed.
03: Religious Heroes 1—Gilgamesh and the Dawn of History
With a brief review of the elements of religious myth, Dr. Oden discusses elements of the Mesopotamian myth "The Epic of Gilgamesh." Gilgamesh's encounter with his equal Enkidu, the spiritual crisis brought on by Enkidu's death, and its resolution.
04: Religious Heroes 2—Moses and Jesus
Dr. Oden proposes that we should understand the lives of religious heroes in the framework of a rite of passage—the movement from ignorance to crisis to post-threshold awareness. Gilgamesh, Moses, and Jesus all fit this scheme. Jesus' argument is that life itself is a crisis presaging the threshold. Hindu and Buddhist belief are included in this analysis.
05: Pondering Divine Justice—Do We Suffer for Naught?
How can a benevolent God permit needless human suffering? The five answers of religion to this question are discussed, as is the Book of Job.
06: Defending Divine Justice—Religious Accounts of Suffering
Continuing the discussion begun in Lecture 5, Dr. Oden explains and examines the responses of St. Paul, Calvin, and Hindu and Buddhist theologians to the problem of human suffering in a world with God.
07: Religious Rituals and Communities
Dr. Oden first reviews the importance of ritual in defining a religious community. He examines the historical development of religious practices and how they are organized into distinct churches; the inevitability of sects which split off from the church and how these sects become churches; and the intriguing ways Buddhist and Hindu religious practices address the tensions that give rise to sects.
08: Bringing It All Back Home
This lecture explores the extraordinary impact of religious belief and thought on the American character. Dr. Oden makes clear the central importance of Luther, Calvin, and Puritanism on American political behavior, religious fundamentalism, and even career choice anxiety.