The Technicolor Dreamcoat of Religion

How Religion Gets Made, Class 23: Sacred Paths, Sacred People

This class amplifies last class' emphasis on spirituality, showing how four famous individuals crafted their own sense of what's important into a way of life that affected millions. Buddha Jesus Malcolm X Rosa Parks Hope you enjoy!

How Religion Gets Made, Class 22: What is Spirituality

Class #22 treats the basic question, “What is Spirituality in the first place?” – a kind of 30,000-foot view of this topic. (The 30-foot view comes next class!) We look at various definitions, and the possible content ofwhat it means to be ‘spiritual.’ The Tree of Contemplative Practices that suggest themultiple ways of being spiritual is here: https://maiaduerr.com/tree-of-contemplative-practices/ [https://maiaduerr.com/tree-of-contemplative-practices/] Our email for comments, questions or stories is mmullinax@mhu.edu [mmullinax@mhu.edu].

How Religion Gets Made, Class 21: Soul

Something we all assume we have, is a soul. And we treat this assumption in today's class, as a necessary precursor to our next few classes on "Spirituality". For spirituality is the taking care of, the use of, the remembering, of one's soul. We have contributions today by Cornel West, but mostly we ask about how "soul" is connected to an authentic life, not just in some afterlife, but in today's times as well.As usual, contact us at mmullinax@mhu.edu.

How Religion Gets Made, Class 20: Theodicy

So, you play by the rules; you do your faith right; you read in your scriptures that a good life has its rewards, and that evil or bad behavior/faith has no future. So that's what you do, and then bad things DO happen, anyway. What went wrong?We speak of the various ways religions justify god's being or behavior when the bad or wrong things happen. Usually, they protect their god from charges of wrong-doing or complicity with evil. It's called Theodicy, or the justification of god when evil happens.We look at 6 ways religions justify evil happening, ways that keep their gods from association with evil.

How Religion Gets Made, Class 19, on Rituals in the World of Religions

Class 19 introduces, with several videos, how some famousrituals in the faiths of the world create meaning – through – action. Action that undergirds the faith. Action that roots the faith, and interweaves the faith and the heart. Rituals are not long or boring meaningless events. When donewell, with intention, they center and root the person in the faith, giving them real-life, real-time expressions of belief, as if the believer lives in the day of the faith’s beginning days. Marc is on his own today; Chandler has the day off. How Religion Gets Made is the first star in the constellation of courses in the academic study of religion series, The TechnicolorDreamcoat of Religion. As usual, contact the show at mmullinax@mhu.edu [mmullinax@mhu.edu].