Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Christianity and Other Faiths: A New Course

Christianity and Other Faiths: A New Course

Last updated on: March 11, 2019 at 1:21 am by Thomas Albert Howard

Christianity and Other Faiths: A New Course 2019-03-09T13:22:02-04:00 Thomas Albert Howard

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

(Note: I am currently working on a small-grant application for a new course entitled “Christianity and Other Faiths: Historical Perspectives, Contemporary Engagements.” This is a work in progress but the grant narrative is below. I invite feedback.)

Title and Description of Course

“Christianity and Other Faiths: Historical Perspectives, Contemporary Engagements.”
This new course will be introduced in Valparaiso University’s four-year interdisciplinary honors college (cross-listed in theology and history) to coincide with the release of two of my forthcoming books: The Faiths of Others: Modern History and the Rise of Interreligious Dialogue (_____ University Press) and The Idea of Tradition in the Late Modern World: An Ecumenical and Interfaith Conversation (Wipf & Stock). The former will be the first major synthetic intellectual history devoted to understanding the rise of the phenomenon we designate as “interreligious” and “interfaith” in the modern age; the latter (of which I am the editor) brings Christian, Muslim, and Jewish scholars together to discuss how they define “tradition” and the challenges and opportunities that various religious traditions face in contemporary (late modern) culture.

Seated in a historically Lutheran university (but with a diverse student body), the course aims to familiarize students with how Christians have approached other faiths historically and what can be learned from these approaches, whether positively or negatively, for contemporary interfaith engagements. The course will also consider how other points of view have regarded Christianity. Crucially, the course will problematize the term “faith” for students and apply it not only to account for what we commonly think of as “religions”–principally Christianity, Islam, and Judaism–but also to two powerful, secular modern worldviews/ideologies: socialism and nationalism.

Learning Outcomes
-Familiarize students with some of the “basic tenets” of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, socialism, and nationalism

Provide students with insight into how the phenomenon of “interfaith” and “interreligious” arose and how they are currently being understood

-Give students a vocabulary to think about religious and ideological alterity

-Provide students with an opportunity to write a major research paper on an interfaith theme

-Give students an opportunity to visit area churches, mosques, and synagogues

-Help students think imaginatively and critically about some of the following categories: religion, faith, pluralism, alterity, dialogue, worldview, the sacred, worship, devotion, tradition, ideology, belief, inter alia.

-Invite students to think about how historical insight can shape contemporary understandings and engagement concerning interfaith matters

-Invite students to value the virtue of what the early-modern Christian theologian Nicholas of Cusa called “learned ignorance” (doctrina ignorantia), intellectual humility derived from knowledge about the complexity of things

-To instill in students (and myself) other core virtues for living (and offering leadership) in a pluralistic democracy: respect, kindness, self-awareness, prudence, justice, and more.

Proposed Course Texts

Required
Bible (selections)
Qur’an (selections)
David Nirenberg, Neighboring Faiths: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in the Middle Ages and Today
Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities
Diana Eck, A New Religious America
Wilfred Cantwell Smith, The Faith of Other Men
Alan Race, Christians and Pluralism: Patterns in Christian Theology of Religions

Recommended
Catherine Cornille, ed., The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Inter-Religious Dialogue
Emilio Gentile, Politics as Religion
James Heft, ed., Learned Ignorance: Intellectual Humility among Jews, Christians, and Muslims
Thomas Albert Howard, The Faiths of Others
Martin Buber, I and Thou
Peter Berger, The Many Altars of Modernity
Jonathan Sacks, The Dignity of Difference
Eboo Patel, Interfaith Leadership: A Primer

Engaging Interfaith Studies Themes
Honestly, the course seems to touch on practically all of the eight interfaith studies themes, but permit to identify three:

Interdisciplinarity: Trained in intellectual/cultural history, I have long written about theological and religious topics. The course will reflect this reality and invite students to think historically, theologically, and religious-studiesly (if I may coin a term). It will also draw some insights from political theory, sociology, anthropology, and American studies.

Experiential Learning: Students will be asked to visit houses of worship different from their own. They will also be asked to interview adherents to faiths/worldviews different from their own.

Religious Literacy: As mentioned, the course will aim to increase their religious literacy as it pertains to Christianity, Islam, Judaism, nationalism, and socialism. In some cases, the “religious” and the “political” aspects of the case could be combined. For example, a student could take up a research topic that explores: “To what degree is Zionism a religious or political/nationalist phenomenon?” or “What can people of non-Jewish backgrounds learn from Abraham Joshua Heschel’s political engagement during the Civil Rights Ear?” or “Does Marx’s notion of a desired future with stateless, classless society share things in common with religious millennialist ideas?”

Questions, Concerns, Reservations
Students may be puzzled at my application of “faith” to political ideologies. I will need to recognize this and make my case with nuance and appropriate caveats. In doing so, I hope to make them think (in a Wittgensteinian register) about how our terminology and categories shape thought and action.

Given the Lutheran character of our institution, I will need to be especially sensitive to students from non-Christian and secular backgrounds and make them feel that they are equally “players at the table.” (I also suspect that they might have the most to offer the class.)

Students will likely come to the class with widely varying degrees of general religious literacy. I will need to take this into consideration and devise ways to bring all “up to speed.” In the past, I have invited students to my office for a brief primer on X or have directed them to many quality on-line resources.

Personal Goals
-To translate my recent research into undergraduate pedagogy

-To deepen my own knowledge of other faith traditions, especially Judaism and Islam

-To make a substantive contribution to an irenic, pluralist, and religiously-informed campus ethos (The course’s first offering will likely occur when I give a campus wide-lecture on “Interfaith Dialogue and the Christian Intellectual Tradition,” so I hope to bring the concerns of the class to the larger campus community)

-To understand better how college-age students are thinking about faith and interfaith topics

-To establish better relationships with various religious leaders and communities in the area around the university

-To contribute perhaps a small bit to tikkun olam, repairing the world

American Religious History

interreligious dialogue

Previous Post

March 8, 2019

Studying Mormonism as Christianity

Next Post

March 12, 2019 Render Unto Trump What Is Trump's

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe guest post Guest Post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who did Jesus call the "greatest among those born of women"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Elijah Peter Moses John the Baptist