Life After Death: An Ancient and Modern Belief

The belief in life after death is one of the oldest, most widespread, and most persistent human beliefs. It can be seen in ancient burial practices, ancient thinkers such as Plato, and ancient and modern religious ideas from around the world. In addition, we now have more data to consider—near-death experiences (NDEs) and deathbed experiences … Read more

The Uniqueness of the Bible

Most religions have holy books or sacred Scriptures. In light of the many sacred texts, what’s unique about the Bible? Here are a few of my initial answers to that question. The Bible is unique because: It is the record of God’s enduring relationship to a specific people group spanning about two millennia. It shows … Read more

Sikhism: Basic Concepts

[In the next few posts, I’ll give an overview of the major religions we’re studying in class. These notes are a highly condensed version of the information in our textbook: Brodd, Jeffrey. World Religions, A Voyage Of Discovery] Guru Nanak The founder of Sikhism is Guru Nanak (1469-1539) who was born in present-day Pakistan. (A Guru is … Read more

Jainism: Basic Concepts

[In the next few posts, I’ll give an overview of the major religions we studied in class. These notes are a highly condensed version of the information in our textbook: Brodd, Jeffrey. World Religions, A Voyage Of Discovery] Tirthankaras: the 24 Conquerors The name Jainism comes from jina which means “conqueror.” Those who have spiritually conquered in … Read more

Buddhism: Basic Concepts

[In the next few posts, I’ll give an overview of the major religions we’re studying in class. These notes are a highly condensed version of the information in our textbook: World Religions, A Voyage Of Discovery, 4th. ed. by Jeffrey Brodd.]   Siddhartha Gautama Buddhism began with Siddhartha Gautama who was born in India in 560 B.C. … Read more