Comparative Religion: A Tapestry of Faiths by Dr. Elijah Levy

In this course participants will be introduced to five world faiths: Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism.

Students will understand the development of prehistoric religions through contemporary times, and appreciate in greater depth how the institute of religion functions to add meaning and purpose in life in most world faiths. The supportive, prophetic and identity functions of religion will be reviewed.

Students will learn why the major religions acknowledge that their precepts are timeless, in addition to recognizing humanity’s connection to something much larger and eternal than us. The compelling questions include examining if all creation is somehow interconnected and why logic is an insufficient way to comprehend divine truth. They also include asking how religion enables humanity to deal with the unknown and how it supplies us with a measure of certainty in an uncertain world.

Teacher's Bio: I earned my doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 1987 and have an interdisciplinary background, enjoying the synthesis of psychology, sociology and philosophy to arrive at a science of human behavior. I have been an adjunct at University of Redlands for 27 years, teaching in the undergraduate and graduate school of business. The courses I teach include management theory, organizational behavior, strategy, business ethics and the undergraduate and graduate capstone courses. I also teach Intro. to Psychology, Biopsychology and Developmental Psychology to undergraduate students at Southern California University of Health Sciences in Whittier. I am a preceptor to P.A. students and R.N. students at the residential care program for the mentally ill I work at to complete part of their psychiatric rotation. I have a consulting office providing corporate training. I publish literature on the American Mosaic, The Philosophical and Cultural Foundations of Heroism, Comparative World Religions, Creative Aging and How to Lead a Value Driven Life. For the last 20 years, I have been the director of Founders Outreach, a nonprofit center supporting the mentally ill through psychiatric rehabilitation programming. Lastly, I enjoy writing and have written two books and edited three books. I will refer students to my website: www.elijahlevy.com to download articles when necessary during the course. In 2007, a colleague and I filmed a documentary on schizophrenia and mental illness titled “Beyond the Shadow of Mental Illness.”

Style of Offering : Zoom class once a week for an hour and a half. A total of 6 classes

Max Number of Attendees: 12

Date and Time : Mondays from 1:00 - 2:30 Six Mondays

Signup Deadline: One Week in Advance