Year
2024Credit points
10Campus offering
Prerequisites
THCT100 What Christians Believe PHIL107 Philosophy of World Religions
Teaching organisation
This unit includes formally structured learning activities such as lectures, integrated classroom discussions and online learning (where applicable), focusing on students as active learners. It also includes guest lectures and excursions (where feasible and available) related to the unit content. The remaining hours involve reading, research, and the preparation of tasks for assessment.Unit rationale, description and aim
Interreligious understanding and respect is an essential concern for navigating today's pluralistic society. This unit aims to provide you with an introduction to the comparative study of sacred texts and their theologies, concentrating on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. You will explore various ways of reading these sacred texts, both from within the religious tradition, and respectfully, from the perspective of another faith tradition. This unit will enable you to engage with the methodologies of comparative theology, interreligious learning, and 'scriptural reasoning', and apply them to interreligious encounters, both in Australia and internationally.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
| Learning Outcome Number | Learning Outcome Description | Relevant Graduate Capabilities |
|---|---|---|
| LO1 | Compare the sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam using a variety of resources and respectfully analyse these texts with due awareness of the lived traditions within which these texts are read and interpreted by their religious communities | GC1, GC3, GC6, GC7, GC11, GC12 |
| LO2 | Critically evaluate the methodological overlaps and differences between comparative theology, interreligious learning and scriptural reasoning, and how interreligious learning can occur with members not belonging to that religious tradition | GC1, GC3, GC7, GC8, GC9, GC11, GC12 |
| LO3 | Apply comparative interreligious insights to a local Australian context on issues that may arise in interreligious learning, doing so in light of international perspectives | GC1, GC2, GC6, GC7, GC8, GC11 |
Content
Topics will include:
- Revelation, authority, inspiration, and sacred texts in Judaism, Christianity and Islam;
- The similarities and differences in hermeneutics (science of interpretation) between Judaism, Christianity and Islam when studying their sacred texts (and that of others);
- A study of specific texts within each religious tradition (Judaism, Islam, and Christianity) to see how they have interpreted, and continue, to interpret their sacred texts;
- A study of sacred texts that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam either have in common with one another or share similar themes.
- The conceptual frameworks of comparative theology, interreligious learning, and scriptural reasoning.
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit includes formally structured learning activities such as lectures, integrated classroom discussions and online learning (where applicable), focusing on students as active learners. It also includes guest lectures and excursions (where feasible and available) related to the unit content. The remaining hours involve reading, research, and the preparation of tasks for assessment.
Assessment strategy and rationale
A range of assessment procedures will be used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. Assessment will focus on developing your ability to analyse, evaluate, and apply what you have learned to specific interreligious encounters. Such procedures may include, but are not limited to, presentations, essays, reports, examinations, and case studies.
Overview of assessments
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
Short written comparative piece - requires students to demonstrate critical understanding of Abrahamic texts and traditions | 20% | LO1 |
Oral presentation with written component - requires students to critically assess and evaluate methodological issues pertaining to comparative theology, interreligious learning and scriptural reasoning | 40% | LO1, LO2 |
Analytic Research Essay - requires students to critically analyse the texts and traditions of Abrahamic faiths in an Australian context | 40% | LO1, LO2, LO3 |
Representative texts and references
Mara Brecht and Reid B. Locklin (eds.), Comparative Theology in the Millennial Classroom: Hybrid Identities, Negotiated Boundaries (New York: Routledge, 2015).
Amanullah De Sondy, Michelle A. Gonzalez and William S. Green, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: An Introduction to Monotheism (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020).
John Kaltner and Younus Y. Mirza, The Bible and the Qur’an: Biblical Figures in the Islamic Tradition (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2017).
Edward Kessler, Bound by the Bible: Jews, Christians and the Sacrifice of Isaac (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
Jon D. Levenson, Inheriting Abraham: The Legacy of the Patriarch in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Princeton, NJ: University of Princeton Press, 2012).
Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Brettler, The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently (San Francisco, CA: HarperOne, 2020).
F.E. Peters, The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018).
Joshua Ralston, Law and the Rule of God: A Christian Engagement with Shari’a (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020).
Zeki Saritoprak, Islam’s Jesus (Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 2014).
Najeeba Syeed and Heidi Hadsell (eds.), Critical Perspectives on Interreligious Education: Experiments in Empathy (Leiden: Brill, 2020).
Pim Valkenberg, No Power over God’s Bounty: A Christian Commentary on the “People of Scripture” in the Qur’an (Leuven: Peeters, 2021).