Catalog Search Results
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2011.
Language
English
Description
What is the meaning of life? How do we find that meaning? To whom should we listen as we shape the path we will walk through the world? This course is an invigorating way to begin or continue your pursuit of these and other questions. Embark on an intellectually gripping course that is every bit the equal of the monumental subject it sets out to explore.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2011.
Language
English
Description
Readings from John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty" reveal the first purely individualistic doctrine of the meaning of life encountered in the course. Mill presents the strongest possible defense of the connection between a meaningful life and a liberal social order.
Publisher
Ideas Roadshow
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Eight professional philosophers (Mark Bevir, James Robert Brown, Patricia Churchland, Brian Epstein, Nita Farahany, Scott Soames, Susan Wolf) describe what first attracted them, and what still attracts them, to the philosophical life.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
The remarkable oral tradition in Islam mandates that the Qur'an be recited and regards memorization as an act of devotion. Delve into the Qur'an's origins in the life of Muhammad, the conception of its text as direct revelation, and its recitation as a sophisticated and esteemed art form.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Description
While sacred texts contain passages on warfare and violence, they also contain maxims, stories, and images exhorting believers to peace. What are the challenges of pacifism? Examine the issue through three historical cases: Mahatma Gandhi, 20th-century American Catholic pacifism, and the Muslim scholar Sheikh al-Hajj Salim Suwari.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
In approaching Christian scripture, trace the complex origins of the New Testament, beginning with the letters of Paul and the Gospels. Follow the proliferation of later Christian texts and how they were categorized, and study the composition of the first complete Christian Bibles in comparison with more recent versions and translations.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Take account of the context of Judges, within the Old Testament books that reveal the story of the Israelites in the Promised Land. Assess different accounts of how the Israelites came to the land of Canaan. Then witness the violent cycle in which they fell into idolatrous behavior, then wound up in enslavement, followed by God sending them a series of charismatic leaders ("judges"_x009d_) to free them.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
Begin to investigate the significance of Gnosticism for religions other than Christianity. Look into why some historians believe that Gnosticism began as a Jewish religious movement and only later included Jesus, as well as the arguments against this view, in grasping how emerging Judaism was part of the story of Gnosticism.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Description
Generally speaking, heresies exist in every religious tradition. Professor Bivins explains how religious violence can consist not only of physical harm against people or groups but of legal constraints, denials of basic liberties, and misrepresentation. Examples you'll consider include Pope Gregory IX's heresy courts and the trial of Galileo.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
The Upanishads constitute the philosophical or wisdom texts of the Hindu Vedas. Study the composition of the Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanishads, containing spiritual arguments and dialogues revealing the underlying unity of brahman (ultimate reality) and atman (the self or soul). Trace the Upanishads' influence on Westerners.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Throughout history, the world's sacred texts have held profound significance for the cultures that produced them. Consider five key reasons for the importance of studying them, from their accessibility and centrality to their cultures of origin to the wisdom they contain and the enlarged perspective they offer on our own traditions.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2011.
Language
English
Description
A brief introduction to Lucretius, the foremost Epicurean philosopher, serves as a gateway to the thought of Marcus Aurelius. Aurelius's Meditations synthesizes Stoic ideas about rational order and the importance of emotional control with Epicurean ideas about finitude and impermanence.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
A second body of Hindu sacred writings encompasses literature, texts that explore the nature of dharma, the eternal laws and principles that give meaning and shape to life. Here, discover two great Indian epics: the Ramayana, a mythic narrative of kingship; and the Mahabharata, a complex story of familial bonds and discord.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Explore the preaching of the prophet Amos and his passionate theme of justice for the poor and vulnerable. Note how, as an outsider, Amos brings the northern kingdom of Israel to task for its crimes against the poor, seen in acts such as debt slavery, distortions of justice, and the treatment of concubines. Contemplate Amos's "three woes"_x009d_ against Israel, and also his concluding vision of hope.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2011.
Language
English
Description
Conclude your immersion in the Daodejing with this examination of some of its most important aspects. Take in its perspectives on the nature of the universe, the subtlety and suppleness of virtue, the value of "negativity," and the delicacy of life.
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