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BTI Consortium | Last Updated November 14 - 9:00AM
INTERELIGIOUS LEARNING
School
Hebrew College
INT515
Jewish Life and Practice
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA24
This course will provide students an opportunity to weave together traditional texts with reflections on their own personal Jewish practice. In this course, students will explore mitzvot often practiced in their homes — the more intimate, inhabited spaces that define and inscribe our deepest social, cultural, and religious commitments. By putting real lived experiences into conversation with aggadah, rabbinic legends, and contemporary guides to Jewish practice, students will gain a deeper understanding of these mitzvot themselves and be able to articulate their current and evolving relationship to each of the mitzvot explored throughout the semester.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Gita Karasov
R
2:30-4:00PM
Grading Option
Letter, PF
Credits
2
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Requires Hebrew 7 or above
School
Hartford International
ET-665-2
The Daily Round and Life Cycle Events in Jewish and Muslim Law
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA24
Jewish and Islamic Law are remarkably similar in scope, content, and theological underpinnings. This course enables students to explore the similarities and differences through a side-by-side presentation of frequently-encountered issues in both systems. After a brief introduction to the sources, history, and schools of Jewish and Islamic law, the course turns to focus on the regulations concerning: Purity, Prayer, Birth and Death Rituals, Charity, Fasting, Food, Dress, Marriage and Divorce. The course equips students with the practical knowledge of these topics, including how the classical regulations are implemented in the modern world.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Laher
M
5-7pm
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Hartford International
HI-539-2
Interrogating Abraham: Examining Intersections between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA24
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have often been called the Abrahamic Religions, as they all claim the Patriarch Abraham. To what extent do these three faiths identify with him, define him, and share him? This course will use an interdisciplinary approach to problematize the Abrahamic identities of early Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities, their views of the Patriarch, and how such identities have guided and affected past and contemporary inter-communal relations. Attention will be given to how sacred scripture, contemporary literature and film shapes and provide meaning for relations today.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Grafton
T
5-7pm
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
PAST 7360
World Religions
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA24
We will look at humanity's quest for God from the beginning of time, and how four of the world's major religious traditionsÑJudaism, Islam, Hinduism, and BuddhismÑdeveloped. Along with their history, we will study their main teachings, worldview, and practice. Part of the class will include visiting temples of the other faiths. We will also look at the phenomenon of atheism and its own religious perspective. With each of these different religions, we willdiscussOrthodox Christianity's understanding of other religions and how we are to dialogue and interact with them, trying to discover elements that could be acceptable within Orthodox Christianity, and how these bridges could be used in sharing our faith within other religions. This Course fulfills the World Religions/Ecumenism requirement.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rev. Luke A. Veronis
T
6:40-9 PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
INDS 7110 H1
The Ecumenical Movement: Challenges and Opportunities
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA24
The Ecumenical Movement that started in the second half of the 19th century does not constitute an ideology but rather reflects the authentic commitment to reconcile divided Christians in the unity of the Church and the reality of communion. Throughout the past century, the quest for Christian unity has assumed many shapes and forms that may be studied through major documents produced along the history of the 20th century and beyond. This course will define the boundaries of Ecumenism and its challenges for contemporary Orthodoxy by looking inward as well as outward as faithful and thoughtful Christians.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rev. Dr. Philip Joseph Halikias
T
9:40 AM - 12 PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston University School of Theology
STHTA 815
World Religions in Boston
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA24
In an increasingly pluralistic society it is essential to have some understanding of the beliefs and worship patterns of other religions and to be able to engage in dialogue with them. This course utilizes the Pluralism Project at Harvard to explore new forms of interfaith engagement. Seven weekly lectures introduce the issues surrounding interfaith work and a basic understanding of the tenets and practices of five major religions. Site visits (to Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist and Jewish worship services) offer first- hand experiences and the opportunity for discussion and interaction with religious leaders and lay people.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Andrew Shenton
A-Term course: August 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27 (not Sunday 25)
2:00-9:00pm
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 3751
Who Needs God? Rethinking God in Light of Hindu and Christian Theologies
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA24
This course reflects on God reconsidered in light of modern and postmodern doubts about the very idea of �God,� in cultures where belief in God, and even understanding of God, is waning. What does needing God mean, for whom? The questions are raised in light of Hindu and Christian scriptures, from philosophical and theological perspectives, and with reference to spiritual paths to union with God in these great traditions. What is missing, if God is missing? Readings include: selected scriptural texts; St. Bonaventure�s Christian Journey of the Mind to God, Sri Sankara's great Goddess hymn, Ocean of Beauty; the 19th century mystics Ramakrishna and T�r�se of Lisieux; 20th century prophets of compassion and justice, Mohandas K. Gandhi and Dorothy Day. Comparing Hindu and Christian traditions on God challenge 21st century ideas of God, religion, self, but the course strongly welcomes insights from other traditions ancient and modern. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Science as Religion 1059. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Science as Religion 1059.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Clooney
MW
10:30am-11:45am
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
4
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Hartford International
ET-665
The Daily Round and Life Cycle Events in Jewish and Muslim Law
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA24
Jewish and Islamic Law are remarkably similar in scope, content, and theological underpinnings. This course enables students to explore the similarities and differences through a side-by-side presentation of frequently-encountered issues in both systems. After a brief introduction to the sources, history, and schools of Jewish and Islamic law, the course turns to focus on the regulations concerning: Purity, Prayer, Birth and Death Rituals, Charity, Fasting, Food, Dress, Marriage and Divorce. The course equips students with the practical knowledge of these topics, including how the classical regulations are implemented in the modern world.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Laher
M
5-7pm
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Hartford International
HI-539
Interrogating Abraham: Examining Intersections between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA24
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have often been called the Abrahamic Religions, as they all claim the Patriarch Abraham. To what extent do these three faiths identify with him, define him, and share him? This course will use an interdisciplinary approach to problematize the Abrahamic identities of early Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities, their views of the Patriarch, and how such identities have guided and affected past and contemporary inter-communal relations. Attention will be given to how sacred scripture, contemporary literature and film shapes and provide meaning for relations today.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Grafton
T
5-7pm
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Hartford International
AM-667
Faith and Leadership in Times of Crisis
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA24
The havoc wrought by the global onslaught of the novel coronavirus has been complexified during the ensuing years by domestic mass-casualty incidents (both naturally-occurring and human-orchestrated); by climate trauma; by warfare, asylum-seeking, and immigration; and by fierce attitudinal clashes (often exacerbated by bigotry and blaming) with regard to systemic racism, the nature and content of public education, access to certain medical procedures, and much more. As emergent occasions have melded, one into the next, the need for robust resources and strategies for sensitive leadership, deep understanding, and efficacious interreligious collaboration has become all the more apparent. This course seeks to address that need.Through engagement with case studies, anecdotal accounts, scripture, devotional literature, theological discourse, interreligious scholarship, and lived experience, this course facilitates investigation of the nature of leadership, followership, and entrepreneurship. Working asynchronously yet collegially, students in this course undertake multireligious consideration of questions such as: To what strategic and spiritual resources might we turn in times of great stress. What are we to do when access to those resources is disrupted? How can any of us provide comfort, hope, and cautious wisdom with integrity (and what actions can we take) when anxiety, grief, fear, or divisive forces threaten to overwhelm or isolate? What sorts of collaborative efforts have proven effective?
Professor
Class Day & Time
Mosher
ASYNC
Asynchronous
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
INDS 7130 H1
Anglicans and Orthodox in Dialogue
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA24
The course will examine the theological conversations between Anglicans and Orthodox, especially through the official bilateral dialogue that was established 50 years ago as well as in the work of the International Commission for Anglican-Orthodox Dialogue (ICAOTD) and the Agreed Statements produced by the Commission. This has been one of the most important dialogues of the Orthodox Church marked by contributions of distinguished contemporary Orthodox theologians, among them, Metropolitan John Zizioulas and Metropolitan Kallistos Ware. Part of the course will coincide with the next meeting of the ICAOTD which will take place in October for the first time on the campus of Hellenic College-Holy Cross School of Theology sponsored by the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at HCHC. This will offer a unique opportunity for students to be exposed to firsthand experience of this bilateral ecumenical dialogue.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rev. Dr. Christos Christakis
TBA
TBA
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
TBA
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College Department of Theology
THEO7507-01
Theology of Religions / Comparative Theology
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA24
This seminar will focus on the various theological positions which have been developed with regard to the reality of religious pluralism as well as on the relationship between theology of religions and comparative theology. While we will focus mainly on the works of Christian theologians, we will also pay attention to analogous developments in other religious traditions.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Cornille
T
10a-12:25p
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2360
Alternative Spiritualities in the United States
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA24
This course surveys spiritual practices and movements that have been labeled as metaphysical, esoteric, pagan, occult, harmonial, and New Age. We will begin with a historical survey of esoteric spirituality from colonial-era astrology and alchemy to New Age and neopagan traditions, then consider some leading constructive thinkers within alternative spiritual traditions, such as Starhawk and Joanna Macy. The course will also feature field trips to a variety of spiritual organizations and communities. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1562.
Professor
Class Day & Time
McKanan
T
03:00pm-05:30pm
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
4
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
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