HarvardX: Religious Literacy: Traditions and Scriptures

Welcome to Religious Literacy: Traditions and Scriptures! This course is the fir
st in a series; it is followed by five courses that will build on the work we do
together here. We on the teaching team are delighted to greet you and we look f
orward to introducing you to the material we've prepared for your engagement.
Before launching into the course content itself, I want to say how excited I am
to provide you all with multiple opportunities to interact with each other thro
ughout the entire module. In fact, one of the reasons that I was eager to offer
this course in this venue is because I wanted to create a space for people with
diverse worldviews and from diverse backgrounds and geographical regions to int
eract with one another in a constructive way about issues and ideas that too oft
en divide us.
Given this goal, I want to highlight here at the outset that the approach to lea
rning about religion represented here is one that recognizes and values the dive
rsity of beliefs and convictions within as well as among religions and worldview
s. In this way, we will not be promoting or privileging one interpretation or wo
rldview over another, or asking which interpretation or worldview is "right" or
"true." Instead, we'll be exploring what gives rise to diverse interpretations,
and why some worldviews and interpretations gain more social prominence and cre
dibility in certain contexts over others. In short, our explorations will be foc
used on seeking to better understand diverse perspectives rather than debating w
hich ones are "credible." I trust that all of you who have signed up for Religi
ous Literacy share this interest, and will see the rich diversity of participant
s as one of the most important assets of the class. I also trust that all inter
actions via the discussion board and during our live conversations on Fridays wi
ll be respectful and motivated by curiosity and a sincere interest in learning w
ith and from one another.
Thank you for keeping these goals in mind, and let's begin our exploration toget
her!
Professor Moore