Catalog Search Results
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2011.
Language
English
Description
Your focus shifts to China and the ideas attributed to the man known to the West as Confucius. Hear what his teachings have to say about concepts like warm-heartedness, propriety, virtue, filial piety, the nature of the universe, and the achievement of an effortless excellence of character.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Jainism, a sister religion to Buddhism, maintains an unusual relationship to scripture. Explore the principles and ascetic customs of the faith's two groups, the Shvetambara and Digambara, which reject each other's scriptures as forgeries. Study excerpts from each group's sacred texts, revered yet never held as the heart of the faith.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
The Nag Hammadi codices contain numerous texts called "revelations" or "secret books." Here, explore three such texts, the Revelation of Paul, the Revelation of Peter, and the Secret Book of James, as they propound theological views that challenged and in some cases sharply criticized the emerging orthodox church and its leaders.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
The Mormon religion offers its own unique scriptures, used in conjunction with the Christian Bible. Learn about the Book of Mormon, an epic religious-historical narrative, as well as its other sacred texts, including Mormonism's oral temple ceremony, and grasp how they are used as expressions of the faith.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Description
For humans, the world is always about to end. Using examples like the People's Temple, the Branch Davidians, and Aum Shinrikyo, as well as 19th-century America, explore the meanings of apocalypticism as a form of human meaning-making, as well as its role in the phenomenon of religious violence.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
In a deep look at the figure of Abraham, the spiritual father of three major religions, examine the features of the Covenant made between God and Abraham as Abraham embarks on his legendary journey. Study the three promises God makes, and what God asks of Abraham. Learn about the paradox embodied in God's command that Abraham sacrifice his son, and what this signifies about the nature of faith.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
In a second look at Confucianism, investigate the renowned Yijing and how its system of divination has actual practical applications. Then delve into Neo-Confucianism, its principles of self-cultivation and harmony with humanity and the cosmos, and its embodiment in the texts of the Analects, the Mencius, the Great Learning, and the Constant Mean.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Within the life and preaching of the prophet Jeremiah, study the book of Jeremiah, Chapter 7, regarding his "temple sermon"_x009d_ preaching against idolatry, injustice, and fraudulent worship. Witness the prophet's response to his later persecution, and his struggle against his own call to be a prophet. Also read the hopeful prophecy in which God offers a new covenant to Israel.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2011.
Language
English
Description
Shift your perspective from India to the roots of Western thought about life's meaning by beginning your study of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics. This introductory lecture sets out the framework of Aristotle's view, as set forth in the lecture notes kept by his son and pupil, Nichomacheus.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
In the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, explore how ancient Israelites understood the nature of sin. Follow Adam and Eve's transgression in eating the forbidden fruit and note how this act disrupts both the relationship between the two humans and between humanity and nature. See how the ultimate consequence of the humans' actions is the loss of fellowship with God.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Examine the role of the prophet in ancient Israel as the conscience of the nation. Study the life of the prophet Elijah, his actions to affirm the supremacy of God, and his later disillusion and disobedience to God. Grasp Elijah's role in the fall of the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah to Assyria and Babylon, a story which, nevertheless, ends on a note of hope.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
Also opposing the Gnostics and Valentinians were Christian teachers who claimed to offer a gnosis that was faithful to the teachings of the emerging church. Encounter the work of Clement and Origen, visionary theologians who encouraged Christians to move beyond mere faith to a deeper understanding of the mysteries of God and the universe.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
The Gospel According to Thomas is the most famous of the ancient documents discovered at Nag Hammadi. Learn how the text comprises sayings of Jesus that the reader must seek to understand. Observe how the gospel rejects the teaching of a future kingdom of God, contending instead that the kingdom is within us.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Examine the three distinct sections of Isaiah: first, the prophet's stern denunciation of social injustice, and his intimation of a new era of peace under a messianic king; next, a promise of restoration and redemption for Israel, through the figure of the "Suffering Servant"_x009d_; and finally, the vision of a post-exile Jerusalem, where all peoples are included within the worship of God.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
Study how Valentinus's radical spirituality spread, and how the movement interacted with other contemporary forms of Christianity. Then investigate its mythological construct of the universe as composed of three elements: matter, spirit, and soul. One of these predominates in each individual human being, crucially influencing their spiritual destiny.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2011.
Language
English
Description
An exploration of a very different Chinese approach to understanding than that set forth in Confucianism begins with a cautionary demonstration of the startling differences in interpretation that will always be present among various translations of a text.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
Key ideas from ancient Gnosticism persisted into the Middle Ages and beyond. Learn about Mandeanism, one of the oldest still existing religions of the Middle East; the mystical theology of Evagrius; the medieval Cathars; and Jewish Kabbalah. Trace the connections between these esoteric forms of spirituality and the Gnostics.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
The Old Testament is one of the foundational documents of Western civilization. In 24 enthralling episodes, Professor Robert D. Miller II of The Catholic University of America guides you through a core selection of the major books of the Old Testament, inviting you to probe their meaning and relevance in incisive and thought-provoking commentary.
Publisher
Ideas Roadshow
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Eight professional philosophers (Mark Bevir, James Robert Brown, Patricia Churchland, Brian Epstein, Nita Farahany, Scott Soames, Susan Wolf) describe what first attracted them, and what still attracts them, to the philosophical life.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2011.
Language
English
Description
Explore Aristotle's search for the "highest good." It is a search that takes you through his famous "function argument" and offers an explanation of the comprehensive state of being known as eudaimonea, the fully flourishing life that may well elude evaluation until long after death.
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