Kreeft's class on Philosophy of World Religions

[Maranatha]

Challenge your mind

With the money that we spend to come to Boston College, why waste time taking classes that don’t teach us anything new or challenging? I’m all for getting good grades, and Lord knows I like seeing my GPA move northward, but I get the overwhelming sense that many BC students are fearful of getting anything below an A-. Last I checked, B meant above average and C’s weren’t the end of the world. What’s so wrong with being an “average” BC student? Taking a challenging class does involve some risk, but it’s not a guaranteed F. It’s quite possible that a student can take a challenging class and do well. I urge all of my classmates to take a risk in this drop/add period and take the classes they have always wanted to take but haven’t because of their fear of doing poorly. Any professor will tell you that to have a successful career, you have to love what you do. The rules don’t change when it comes to academics.
…
Spending my entire academic life in Catholic school and attached to my faith, a study of the varied world religions was a quantum leap out of my comfort zone. I could understand Judaism fine. After all, much of it is what they teach you right before you reach the Christmas story and the New Testament. Even Islam wasn’t that strange; same God, same basic beliefs of obeying God and doing good unto others - no big deal. But I had never studied Buddhism, Confucianism, or Hinduism, and I had never even heard of Taoism. To put it gently, I jumped in the deep end without my floaties.

more

 

[Mr.Ex_Nihilo]

Challenge your mind

With the money that we spend to come to Boston College, why waste time taking classes that don’t teach us anything new or challenging? I’m all for getting good grades, and Lord knows I like seeing my GPA move northward, but I get the overwhelming sense that many BC students are fearful of getting anything below an A-. Last I checked, B meant above average and C’s weren’t the end of the world. What’s so wrong with being an “average” BC student? Taking a challenging class does involve some risk, but it’s not a guaranteed F. It’s quite possible that a student can take a challenging class and do well. I urge all of my classmates to take a risk in this drop/add period and take the classes they have always wanted to take but haven’t because of their fear of doing poorly. Any professor will tell you that to have a successful career, you have to love what you do. The rules don’t change when it comes to academics.
…
Spending my entire academic life in Catholic school and attached to my faith, a study of the varied world religions was a quantum leap out of my comfort zone. I could understand Judaism fine. After all, much of it is what they teach you right before you reach the Christmas story and the New Testament. Even Islam wasn’t that strange; same God, same basic beliefs of obeying God and doing good unto others - no big deal. But I had never studied Buddhism, Confucianism, or Hinduism, and I had never even heard of Taoism. To put it gently, I jumped in the deep end without my floaties.

more

Thank you. That was very interesting and a point-of-view that I don’t usually hear too often.

 

[Maranatha]

Thank you. That was very interesting and a point-of-view that I don’t usually hear too often.

What port of view are you refering to?

 

[Mr.Ex_Nihilo]

What port of view are you refering to?

I guess I was thinking along the lines of investigating other world religions from a Catholic perspective. It’s not that the initial point-of-view is different, since I’m Catholic.

Rather, that it can be both scary and frustrating to expand one’s horizons and investigate issues of faith from other world perspectives, viewing the world through the eyes of other religions.

Ecumenism and interreligious dialogue demands this to be fair, an honest attempt to understand another person’s perspective without maligning their position. And, often times, like the student who managed a C on the final and a B on the paper, it can be very frustrating to engage in it.

Nonetheless, despite the fact that these kinds of dialogues can be the most challenging and time-consuming in any general discussion, I think it can also be the most rewarding too-- especiually if true unity in Christ can be brought forth.