THEOREL 106

Islam and the Contemporary World

Please note: this is archived course information from 2018 for THEOREL 106.

Description

Since the religion of Islam has become a very significant aspect of contemporary global and local societies, this course seeks to introduce students to an understanding of key aspects of Islam and an analysis of its significant contribution to New Zealand society as well as to societies and cultures across the world.

The purpose of the course is to introduce students to Islam as a living and multi-faceted tradition within our contemporary world with particular attention to Islam in New Zealand and Australia.

This course will be of interest to those who have never studied Islam before as well as those who may be adherents of Islam but have never studied it formally.

Topics covered may include:

• Faces of Islam in contemporary New Zealand
• God and the Quran
• Muhammad
• Theological and philosophical debates (freewill versus predetermination, faith versus reason)
• Sharia, secularism and democracy
• Mysticism - Sufism
• Feminism and Islam
• Minorities and migration
• War and the logic of terror
• Islam and New Zealand

Availability 2018

Semester 1

Lecturer(s)

TBA

Reading/Texts

William Shepard, Introducing Islam (Routledge, 2014).

Points

THEOREL 106: 15 points

Restrictions

THEOLOGY 106, 106G