This lecture is part of a course from The Great Courses called Cultural Literacy for Religion taught by Professor Mark Berkson, Ph.D.. This course and over 300 other courses can be accessed with a subscription to The Great Courses Plus.
In this introductory lecture to The Great Courses course Cultural Literacy for Religion: Everything the Well-Educated Person Should Know, Professor Mark Berkson, Ph.D. begins the course with citing studies as to how little the average American knows about the major world’s religions. He feels there are many reasons for this including the reluctance of schools to teach about world religions in K-12 education. Dr. Berkson gives his arguments for why he feels literacy of religion is so important. He then sets out on the complicated task of defining religion, in which he provides a multifaceted approach that seeks to encompass the aspects of all major religions and how they differ from other disciplines such as science and philosophy.