About This Course
This course is currently closed.
Explore the diverse and complex roles that religions play in both promoting and mitigating violence.
In this course, we will explore a series of contemporary conflicts in different regions of the world with a special focus on identifying and analyzing the diverse and complex roles that religions play in both promoting and mitigating violence in each context. Students will learn a method for recognizing and analyzing how religious ideologies are embedded in all arenas of human agency and not isolated from political, economic, and cultural life as is often assumed.
In addition to examining the conflicts themselves, we will also explore the religious dimensions of the impacts those conflicts have on civic life in areas such as public health, education, and commerce by addressing a series of questions.
- What roles do religions play in fostering violence and what roles do they play in promoting peace?
- How do religious institutions and ideologies function to support and/or thwart public health initiatives?
- What are the ideological justifications for functional economic policies and how do they reflect and/or challenge diverse religious values?
- What roles do religions play in advancing or suppressing educational opportunities and for whom?
- Are media representations of the religious dimensions of conflict accurate?
Possible countries of focus include Brazil, Egypt, France, Israel/Palestine, Myanmar, Nigeria, Qatar, the Philippines, Somalia, Syria, Turkey, and the United States. Final projects will be individually shaped based on interest and (where relevant) professional focus.
This course is provided through EdX. Students may sign up to take the course by contacting prs@jewishpluralism.org. Students will be given a code for a free verified certificate. Students will take the course and submit the EdX certificate to validate the satisfactory completion of the course and receive one credit towards their required electives.
Course Objectives
- Tools for how to interpret the roles religions play in contemporary conflicts;
- How religions are internally diverse;
- How religions evolve and change;
- How religions are embedded in all human cultures
Meet Your Instructor
IsraelX is a national consortium of higher education institutions in Israel, led by the Council for Higher Education and the Ministry for Social Equality. IsraelX is the international arm of Campus - the Israeli National Project for Digital Learning, whose goal is to promote general, academic and professional education in Israel in order to reduce social gaps and accelerate economic growth.
