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| CRC Group 2003-2004 |
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Friends World Program of Long Island University offers a two semester, thirty credit field course in world religions and culture. A group of students, a faculty advisor and an administrative assistant travel to China, Thailand, India, Greece and Italy to engage in an intensive and comparative study of the teaching, texts, and practices of the world's major religions. In addition to the Director's year-long seminar on Comparative Religion which examines belief systems, practice, ritual, sacred space and other issues in each religion, at least one course on the religions and culture of each region will be part of each term.
The experiential aspect of the program enables a depth of understanding not possible through classroom study or research. Students live among the people, participate in their ceremonies and rituals, and see their shrines and holy sites. They travel to the source of the world's great religious traditions, and develop a course of study that synthesizes classroom-based work and experiential learning.
Past programs have included lectures on, and visits to: Soto and Rinzai Zen Monasteries, Shinto Shrines, a Soka Gakkai annual meeting and the Kurama Fire Festival in Japan; the Gandhian Peace Foundation, the Taj Mahal, the Tibetan community in Dharmsala, the Jain temple and pilgrimage site in Sravanabelagola, and Sufi and Sikh temples in New Delhi in India; And new programming in the Mediterranean will include visits to such places and events as the resplendent Ez Zitouna Mosque in Tunis, Sabbath Eve prayer at the Synagogue of Rome, the Vatican Museums, the Acropolis, and a Greek Orthodox liturgy. |