Philosophy of Religion 

Central concepts in religious thought, such as God, faith, and immortality; problems of religious knowledge and revelation. Problems connected with the relation of theology and philosophy discussed with reference to selected medieval, modern, and contemporary texts.    Objectives:

 To enable a student to: 

  1. Become familiar with a variety of the worlds living religions and be able to compare and contrast some of their features

  2. Have some understanding of the findings and theories of the sciences concerning religion and the current status of the relationship of science to religion

  3. Have an understanding of the traditional arguments based upon reasoning for the existence of a deity, a supreme being and the weaknesses and values of those arguments

  4. Have an understanding of the traditional arguments based upon experience for the existence of a deity, a supreme being and the weaknesses and values of those arguments

  5. Have an understanding of arguments for the existence of a soul and theories of the after life along with an understanding of their weaknesses

  6. Have a critical understanding for the nature of religious language

  7. Have a critical understanding of the relationship of reason to faith

  8. Have an understanding of the relationship of Religion to ethics, the foundations of the moral order for any society

  9. Have a critical understanding of what the essence of religion might be

REQUIRED TEXTS:   Click here to go to the free Textbook for this course.

There is a great deal of material presented in an Online textbook.  All of the assignments can be completed by reading the materials on the internet.  However, if a learner prefers to have a printed paper text in addition to or instead of the online material,  the two texts below are very good.  The Philosophy text by Pojman would be good for everyone in the course to have.
 
Schmidt, Roger, et al;   Patterns of Religion,  Belmont, CA.:Wadsworth, 1999.

 ISBN 0534 506 496

2nd edition in paperback, 2005  ISBN 0-534-62741-2

by Roger Schmidt, Gene C. Sager, Gerald Carney, Julius J. Jackson, Kenneth Zanca, Albert Muller, Julius Jackson
About this book click here.
Available from Available from
from the publisher Amazon.com
half.com ecampus.com
                    
Pojman, Louis P. Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology.     4rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2003.       paperback edition  ISBN 0-534-54364-2
 
   
Available from Available from
The publisher Amazon.com
half.com ecampus.com