Between 1997 and 2023, I was a professor of World Religions at graduate and undergraduate institutions in Kentucky, Tennessee, Singapore and Illinois.
The following videos are from a 3-credit undergraduate course, Religions of the World, taught online at College of DuPage (Illinois) in the Fall term of 2022 before retiring in May 2023 and moving to Jerusalem.
As such, they represent the core of my understanding of the religious experiences of humankind. Since I had finished recounting my own colorful and dizzying religious experience in the "Confessions" blog, I thought it would be valuable to pass this on to you.
My intention here was to objectively survey the main streams of religion without sectarian emphases or doctrinal/dogmatic authority claims. I focused on the common elements of how historical religious movements work for adherents and how they understand their own relationship to their place in the universe. I am not pushing an agenda here. This is not about me--that is found in in my Confessions blogs. This is about the general religious experiences of the human race. I hope you find this helpful.
[These videos were roughly edited in 2026 to remove material that is specific to the administration and navigation of the coursework such as the syllabus and assignments required for college credit.]
As I finish editing this material, it will likely be about 35-45 hours divided into about 25 lessons.
You can also find these videos on my website ConfessionsofaWanderingJew.com and my YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/@JeffreyWasserman-PhD
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The textbook used for this course is edited by John Esposito: Title: World Religions Today Author: Esposito, Fasching, Lewis and Feldmeirer ISBN: 9780197537657 [paperback] Digital ISBN: 9780197537725 [ebook] Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2022/7th Edition 4th, 5th or 6th editions are less expensive and plentiful as used books. Reading the textbook isn't required, but I encourage you to get a basic religions textbook to help you absorb this material. We will follow this basic outline of study: 1. What is religion? 2. Hinduism/Sikhism/Jainism 3. Buddhism 4. Taoism, Confucianism 5. Judaism 6. Christianity 7. Islam
