Module: Ethics in the World Religions

Module Specifications..

Current Academic Year 2023 - 2024

Please note that this information is subject to change.

Module Title	Ethics in the World Religions
Module Code	TP518A
School	59
Module Co-ordinator	Semester 1: Peter Admirand Semester 2: Peter Admirand Autumn: Peter Admirand
Module Teachers	Peter Admirand
NFQ level	9	Credit Rating	10
Pre-requisite	None
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

None

Description

This module explores how various religious traditions influence ethical decision-making and practice. The module will firstly examine ways in which religious beliefs and worldviews influence the development of various forms of ethical perspectives and standards that have come to shape and define cultures and societies. Secondly, it will explore particular religious moral traditions including Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. African, Asian and indigenous ethical perspectives will also be explored. Thirdly, course participants will be given the opportunity to compare how religious traditions approach and assess particular ethical issues (e.g. economics, ecology, health, human rights) and thus demonstrate an active and creative interaction between theory and practice. Finally, the module will examine the development of a universal or global ethic.

Learning Outcomes

1. Demonstrate a systematic understanding of ethics in a broad range of religious traditions and of the similarities and differences between these traditions in terms of values, norms and methodology.
2. Display a critical awareness of contemporary public and professional ethical issues together with ethical insights developed and informed by a variety of comparative religious perspectives.
3. Select from a number of ethical decision-making models that have been informed by a religious worldview that incorporates both a theoretical and an applied approach to ethics.
4. Apply and appraise the various religious frameworks for dealing with ethical problems, challenges and dilemmas to demonstrate an understanding of how religious traditions can lead to various ethical positions on contemporary ethical concerns.
5. Apply skills in scrutinising and reflecting on specific contemporary ethical challenges arising from either work practices or from social and political issues in a religiously pluralist world.

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full-time hours per semester
Class Presentation	9	Class Presetation
Lecture	20	No Description
Assignment Completion	110	No Description
Directed learning	111	No Description
Total Workload: 250

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Universal Moral Experience
We will study and evaluate the Global Ethic.

Relationship between Ethics and Religion
Is ethics dependent upon religion? What about secular ethics?

Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, African, Asian and Indigenous Ethical Perspectives
We will work closely with primary and secondary religious texts in the World Religions (including Indigenous traditions)

Comparisons in Religious Ethics in Relation to a Selected Issue such as Economics, Ecology, Health, Human Rights
We will learn how best to compare religious traditions through a range of ethical and moral issues.

Declaration Toward a Global Ethic
What unites all faiths? What divides them?

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment	100%	Examination Weight	0%

Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Course Work Breakdown
Presentation	Present a comparative religious approach to a selected ethical issue. The presentation will provide course participants the possibility of comparing the approaches of various religious traditions to an ethical issue.	20%	n/a
Essay	The research paper will consist of 5000 words. Course participants will be required to demonstrate knowledge about the range of frameworks used by the various religions. The research paper will also give them the opportunity to take a practical approach to dealing with issues from a variety of standpoints while also developing a clear awareness of their own individual perspectives.	80%	n/a

Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; 1 = A resit is available for all components of the module 2 = No resit is available for 100% continuous assessment module 3 = No resit is available for the continuous assessment component
This module is category 1

Indicative Reading List

Peter Admirand: 0, Loss and Hope, 2015,
Schweiker, William: 2008, The Blackwell Companion to Religious Ethics, WileyBlackwell,
Peter Phan: 2004, Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue, Orbis,
Jacob Neusner and Bruce Chilton: 2008, The Golden Rule: The Ethics of Responsibility in World Religions,

Other Resources

None

Programme or List of Programmes

MAETH

MA in Ethics

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