REL110

An introduction to the comparative study of religion centering on the ways in which various traditions have addressed basic questions: What happens to humans when they die? How have concerns about the afterlife shaped human understanding about how we live our lives? Primary attention is given to at least three of the following religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Chinese and Japanese religions. Ways of studying these answers in their many dimensions (ritual, doctrinal, mythological, sociological, psychological) are introduced; topics such as notions of heaven and hell, reincarnation, relics, burial patterns, ghosts, visionary journeys to the other world, quests for immortality, near-death experiences, and resurrections are addressed.