Dr. Diane L. Moore’s highly successful HarvardX open, online courses “World Religions Through Their Scriptures” and “Religion, Conflict, and Peace” have returned for a seventh year. The relaunch features new teaching staff, additional pedagogical tools in some courses, and an added session on cultural activism highlighting artists and activists who have participated in RPL’s Religion, Conflict, and Peace fellowship program. These courses have served hundreds of thousands of students in 175 countries.
The courses are self-paced and always free to audit. During enrollment, participants will choose either the free course or an additional paid option to earn certificates of completion. Sign up today to learn in conversation with others across the globe.
As one recent participant stated, “I have learned a tremendous amount and the courage of the people involved in peace making and building have inspired me to learn more and to take what action I can to 'be part of the solution.”
Religion, Conflict, and Peace in Contemporary Global Affairs
Dr. Moore’s popular Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Religion, Conflict, and Peace in Contemporary Global Affairs is offered online to a global audience through Harvard X. Participants have the opportunity to take it for free or sign up for a Certificate for $50.
Register for Religion, Conflict, and Peace
Course Description
In this course, we will explore a series of contemporary conflicts in different regions of the world with a special focus on identifying and analyzing the diverse and complex roles that religions play in both promoting and mitigating violence in each context. Students will learn a method for recognizing and analyzing how religious ideologies are embedded in all arenas of human agency and not isolated from political, economic, and cultural life as is often assumed.
In addition to examining the conflicts themselves, we will also explore the religious dimensions of the impacts those conflicts have on civic life in areas such as public health, education, and commerce by addressing a series of questions.
- What roles do religions play in fostering violence and what roles do they play in promoting peace?
- How do religious institutions and ideologies function to support and/or thwart public health initiatives?
- What are the ideological justifications for functional economic policies and how do they reflect and/or challenge diverse religious values?
- What roles do religions play in advancing or suppressing educational opportunities and for whom?
- Are media representations of the religious dimensions of conflict accurate?
- Case studies will include Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, France, India, Israel/Palestine, Myanmar, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, Syria, and the United States. Final projects will be individually shaped based on interest and (where relevant) professional focus.
- The course is open to all and especially relevant for aspiring or professional educators, journalists, public health workers, foreign service officers and government officials who wish to better understand how religions function in contemporary world affairs.
World Religions through Their Scriptures
Professor Moore is the lead scholar for the six module MOOC entitled World Religions Through Their Scriptures which begins with a module entitled Religious Literacy: Traditions and Scriptures. Register here for this popular series that has enrolled over 730,000 participants representing over 120 countries.
Register for World Religions through Their Scriptures
Course Description
The course is comprised of seven month-long modules led by the following faculty members:
- Religious Literacy: Traditions and Scriptures: Diane L. Moore, Senior Lecturer on Religious Studies and Education, Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions, and Director of the Religious Literacy Project
- Hinduism: Neelima Shukla-Bhatt, Associate Professor of South Asian Studies, Wellesley College
- Buddhism: Charles Hallisey, Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures (HDS and FAS);
- Judaism: Shaye Cohen, Nathan Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy (FAS)
- Christianity: Karen King, Hollis Professor of Divinity (HDS and FAS)
- Islam: Ali Asani, Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures (FAS and HDS)
- Sikhism: Harpreet Singh, Scholar of South Asian Traditions (HDS)
This is a collaborative project among seven colleagues at HDS, FAS, and Wellesley College to create a series of modules introducing participants to the academic study of religion through some of the central texts of six of the world’s religious traditions with an emphasis on origins and interpreters.
Many contemporary conflicts across the globe are related to religion and yet few people are equipped to understand what those religious dimensions entail. For a variety of complex reasons, many people believe that the best way to understand religion is to understand religious texts. For example, following the 9/11 attacks, sales of English translations of the Qur’an skyrocketed. We understand why this approach is problematic and yet we know that the impulse to understand religious traditions through texts persists. We hope this course will challenge some common assumptions about religions and texts as well as build capacities to strengthen better understanding of religion applicable to world affairs in contemporary contexts.
The unifying theme of all seven modules is a cultural studies approach to teaching and learning about religion through the lens of sacred texts. Participants in the course will
- Learn methods for how to understand religion in general and religious texts in particular;
- Learn the political and cultural contexts that produced religious texts and the processes that led to some being designated as “sacred”;
- Learn about diverse interpretations within and between traditions regarding what the designation “sacred” means;
- Learn about contemporary and historical examples of diverse interpretations of the texts themselves.