Whatever your own personal view on the subject of religion there is much to be said to having an understanding of the major religious traditions that have and continue to govern the lives of billions of human beings on this planet.  Both directly and indirectly religious ideas profoundly influence world events - one only has to look at the news to see that this is the case. The aim of this course will be to present the primary ideas and phenomenology of the dominant world traditions - Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism with a perusal of other lesser but still significant traditions.

The approach will be objective - it will not be the intention of this course to judge the efficacy of the truth claims of these traditions - but to ensure a grasp of their essence. In parallel,  we will evaluate the  key concepts common to all traditions from the perspective of philosophy - for example an analysis of the core idea of God etc.

I ran this course some years ago and it was very successful and I have been asked to offer it again, which I now do.  My own academic background is two degrees in Philosophy and Theology and many years of teaching the same.