World Religions
34 results
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Interview Chart for Religious Beliefs
This chart allows students to see the comparison between the beliefs of five major religions and those of the Catholic Church.
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Empathizing (Religion in the Modern World)
This article provides several suggestions of ways to help students reflect on their experiences with people from different forms of religion in the modern world.
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Empathizing (Islam)
This handout provides several suggestions to help students draw connections between Islam and Christianity.
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Empathizing (Shinto)
This article provides several possible ideas of ways to help students see, experience, and better understand the Shinto religion.
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Empathizing (Zen Buddhism)
This short article provides questions, reflections, and suggestions to help students empathize with Zen Buddhism.
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Empathizing (Taoism)
This short article provides questions, reflections, and suggestions to help students empathize with Taoism.
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Empathizing (Confucianism)
This short handout provides questions, reflections, and suggestions to help students empathize with Confucianism.
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Empathizing (Sikhism)
This short handout provides questions, reflections, and suggestions to help students empathize with Sikhism.
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Worldviews: Religions and Their Relatives
This article explores two examples of modern worldviews and how they different from traditional religions.
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The Fasting Siddhartha
This handout is meant to be used as part of a station activity in which students observe different pieces of artwork from various religions.
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Buddhist and Judeo-Christian Understandings of God
This article compares and contrasts the Buddhist and Judeo-Christian understanding of God.
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What Harm Is in Our Sun Dance?
This short article provides the point of view of a Blackfoot Indian about the illegalization of the Sun Dance.
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Images of God, Understandings of Life
The sketches below represent the different images of God and understandings of life that were held by the Jewish wisdom sages. Beneath each sketch, list the wisdom books that correspond to that image.
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Greek and Roman Gods Today
Next to the name of each god or goddess in the chart below, jot down any person, place, object, time, program, or product with which you associate the name. You may also note titles of songs or TV programs or …
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A Zoroastrian Symbol
The illustration on this handout is the Faravahar, a symbol of Zoroastrian faith. With the example of the Faravahar in mind, create, on a separate sheet of paper, a symbol that represents your own religious faith or personal understanding of …
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Koans: Food for Intuition
Read the following Zen koans two or three times. Choose one and answer or explain it.
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Who Is the Sage?
In each pair of situations below, one of the people described resembles the ideal of the Taoist sage, the person who lives in accord with Tao and practices the virtue wu-wei. Read each pair of situations and circle the letter …
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Chinese Calligraphy
Calligraphy is one of the cultural arts that was pursued in the process of becoming a chun-tzu. Try your hand at reproducing the Chinese characters below, drawing your versions in the space provided to the right of the characters. The …
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Dialogue with Others
Excerpts from the address of Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday, April 17, 2008 at the John Paul II center in Washington D.C.
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Final Performance Task Options for Unit 2
The final performance task options for Unit 2 of Church History: Apostolic Times to Today. The options include creating a children’s picture book, or making a PowerPoint presentation for a parish community.
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World Religions and the Catholic Church
An activity where students are asked to research several religious traditions, complete a comparison chart, and then reflect on their findings.
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The Two Pentecosts
A chart used to draw parallels between the feasts of Shavuot and Christian Pentecost.
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Christian Unity and Ecumenical Dialogue
This article is from the Living in Christ Series. It is about the relationship between the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations, and uses Church documents and scripture to discuss this relationship.
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Catholicism and World Religions
This article is from the Living in Christ Series. It discusses the relationship between the Catholic Church and other world religions through various Church documents.
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Exploring the "Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate, 1965)”
This activity is part of the Living in Christ Series. It helps students and teachers pick out key ideas and themes in the Second Vatican Council document, Nostra Aetate through questions and short answers.
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The Story of Noah and Other Flood Narratives
This article discusses the similarities and differences between the Biblical flood story and that of other ancient Middle Eastern traditions. It also compares the Biblical account between the Yahwist and Priestly sources.
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The Enuma Elish: A Babylonian Creation Story
The Genesis story is not the only ancient creation story. In fact, almost every ancient culture had its own story of how the world came to exist. Each story reflected much about how the people of its culture viewed their …
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Wrestling with Diversity
How do we welcome non-Christians into our schools and our religion classrooms, and at the same time give witness to our own Christ-centered faith? How do we invite students to learn from and respect other faith traditions without sending the …
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Religious Diversity in Catholic Schools
Pluralism of religions is a reality in the United States. We see it in the newspaper, and we encounter it in our own classrooms. Through television, the Internet, and the changing religious landscape of our own country, our students encounter …
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Hinduism: What Do You Know About the World's Oldest Religion?
Many Americans, who probably have little chance to meet any Hindus, have a vague notion that Hinduism has something to do with bearded swamis, sacred cows, and Mahatma Gandhi. Although most of the citizens of the world's largest democracy are …
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Evil Never Looked So Good
Do you think you're a victim? Do you avoid making judgments because you'll hurt someone's feelings? Do you feel betrayed by your wrinkles or your balding dome? Be careful. You might be cuddling up to heresy, which just had a …
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Six Ways to be Truly Catholic
I always thought that I would have made a great archbishop in Salzburg during the time of Mozart. But instead I'm the archbishop of Milwaukee in the time of rock 'n' roll. That's the way life turns out. We live …
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The Quincentenary
As we are all aware, 1992 marks the quincentenary of Christopher Columbus's landing in the West Indiesthus, the "discovery" of America. For religious educators, this anniversary offers an opportunity to examine the injustices done to Native Americans by the colonizers …
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Curriculum Offerings of Theology Departments
For a couple of years, Saint Marys Press sponsored a listserv discussion group online. Discussions on a variety of topics were pursued via e-mail. In this section of the web site, I summarize some of the highlights from these old …