Program Overview

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Centre for Continuing Education

The Centre for Continuing Education at the University of Sydney offers a diverse range of professional development short courses. These courses are designed to enhance professional development, grow technical and people skills, and support career progression.

Course Subjects

The Centre for Continuing Education offers courses in various subjects, including:

• Business and management
  • Business communication
  • Business strategy
  • Business writing
  • Cultural competence and diversity
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Management
  • Organisational psychology
  • Sales and customer service
• English
• HSC preparation (years 10-12)
  • HSC biology
  • HSC business studies
  • HSC chemistry
  • HSC economics
  • HSC English
  • HSC mathematics
  • HSC physics
  • Year 11 (Revision)
  • Years 10-12 study and essay skills
• Humanities and culture
  • Creative writing
  • Music
  • Philosophy
  • Psychology
• Information technology
  • Adobe
  • AI and machine learning courses
  • Data analysis and analytics
  • Google
  • Microsoft
• Language
  • Arabic
  • Brazilian Portuguese
  • Chinese
  • French
  • German
  • Greek
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Spanish
• Marketing
  • Digital marketing
  • Marketing communications
  • Product development
• Project management
  • Agile methodology courses
  • Change management for projects
  • Stakeholder and people management
  • Technical project management skills

Philosophy Course: Philosophy of Religion

This course examines religious experience while borrowing from different schools of thought, including psychology, anthropology, sociology, phenomenology, and political theory. The course covers topics such as:

• Personal spirituality as independent of religion
• The ongoing debate between religion and science
• The role of 'wonder' in human life
• The paradox of religious violence

Outcomes

By the end of this course, participants should be able to:

• Identify key concepts in the philosophy of religion
• Identify the many approaches to understanding religion in anthropology, psychology, sociology, phenomenology, and philosophy
• Relate ideas about religion and spirituality to the history of politics and contemporary issues
• Discuss the issues involved in the debate between science and religion
• Apply the ideas discussed to personal life and choices

Content

The course content includes:

What is religion?

• Do all religions have supernatural beings?
• The distinction between sacred and profane objects
• Are all religions also 'moral systems'?

Anthropology

• The origins of religions
• Theories of how and why religion emerged
• Mythological narratives of religion, including music, dancing, miracles, and taboos
• Mythological narratives in the early stages of human religious history

Sociology

• The social functions of religion in societies
• The tribal bonding of shared religion and its advantages to early societies
• From a sociological sense, what is the function of religion now?

Psychology

• The mental states of belief and faith
• Humans and our natural propensity for religious belief
• The role religion plays in our need for emotional satisfaction and personal values
• Can the psychological need for religion be replaced by other systems of thought?

Political theory

• The ongoing connection between religious structures and political frameworks
• Theories of religion as covert political/power institutions

Spirituality

• Ideas of 'spirituality' as broader than religion
• Spirituality and our relation to nature, art, and the cosmos
• Is it possible to have a personal spirituality without a religion?

Phenomenology

• The powerful feeling that there is something beyond the ordinary world that we inhabit
• The subjective religious experience as both a very personal experience or something that can be shared as a group
• How should we understand these extraordinary experiences?

Religion and science

• The ongoing debate between religion and science
• The 'compatibilists' who argue that you can have the benefits of both without an unacceptable paradox

Wonder

• What is the role of 'wonder' in human life?
• Wonder is the common origin of philosophy, science, and religion, but is 'wonder' just a state of lack of knowledge to be filled in, or a necessary recognition of a universe beyond our comprehension?

Religion: violence and non-violence

• The core beliefs of many religions are about the need for love, kindness, hospitality, and peace
• The paradox of religious violence

Intended audience

This course is designed for anyone with a general interest in philosophy and the topic of religion.

Delivery style

The course is delivered in a lecture/seminar style.

Materials

Course handouts are provided electronically using Dropbox.

Organisational training

For groups of six or more, courses can be delivered to your team with the option to tailor content.

Filter

Courses can be filtered by:

• Subject area
  • Business and management
  • English
  • HSC preparation (years 10-12)
  • Humanities and culture
  • Information technology
  • Language
  • Marketing
  • Project management
• Delivery mode
  • Face-to-face
  • Online
  • Self-paced
• Location
  • Newtown
  • Sydney CBD
  • Western Sydney
• Course length
  • One-day
  • Two-day
  • Three-day
  • Multi-day
• Date
  • Date Range

Related courses

Related courses include:

• Philosophy and History of Science Course
• Philosophy Course: An Introduction to Existentialism
• Philosophy Course: Spinoza
• Philosophy of Time Course

FAQs

Frequently asked questions about applications, payment, short courses, and more are available.