Reading 1
An Introduction to the Study of Comparative Religion
Assigned: the Introduction, pages 1–33 (the whole of it). Read to learn how religions may be described carefully before Christian evaluation.
Reading different theological perspectives. Historical readings express their authors' perspectives, including Arminian and Reformed or Calvinist traditions. Inclusion does not make an author's position settled CTS doctrine. Read with Scripture and the assigned material. A supported answer from another evangelical perspective should be assessed on its reasoning, not penalized simply for differing from the author. If an automated score rejects such an answer, ask CTS for review.
Master’s Assigned Readings (all five)
M.Div. and Th.M. students read all five assigned selections and take their separate exam after activation. The test page states the current rule; valid earlier completions remain valid.
Optional Honors (choose three)
Honors is optional on every track. Certificate and Associate students may read three honors selections without a required-reading exam. Honors does not replace either master’s exam.
CTS graduate reading requirement. M.Div. and Th.M. students complete these five assigned readings and the separate required-reading test. Certificate and Associate students may use the readings and the test optionally, as a learning opportunity.
These readings belong to World Religions, catalog course 44. They are not the Supplemental Reading Room of this course, which stays as it is for honors reading, and they are not the Reading Room for Cults & World Religions, catalog course 26. The Master's examination covers these five historical readings, not the CTS digests in the Supplemental Reading Room.
Reading 2
Comparative Religion
Assigned: Chapters I, II, VII and VIII. Give attention to both similarities and real theological differences.
Reading 3
Ten Great Religions: An Essay in Comparative Theology
Assigned: Chapter I, §§1–4; Chapter III, §§6, 8–9; Chapter IV, §§3–4, 7–9; Chapter XI, §§3, 5–6. The online edition has no printed page numbers, so follow Clarke's chapter and § numbers. Treat the work as a historical Christian comparative text; distinguish the author's nineteenth-century judgments from current CTS descriptions where necessary.
Reading 4
Representative Primary Texts
Assigned selections: the Qur'an (Rodwell), Suras 112, 19 and 99; the Bhagavad-Gita (Arnold), Chapters III, XII and XVIII; the Dhammapada (Müller), Chapter XX, verses 273–289. The purpose is to hear traditions in representative primary voices rather than only through Christian summaries.
Reading 5
The Crown of Hinduism
Assigned: Introduction, §§III–IV; Chapter V, §§I–III; Chapter X, §§III–IV; Chapter XI, §V. Read critically and respectfully: learn the religious longings the author identifies, then evaluate his Christian fulfillment argument in light of the course.
When you have read the five: take the required-reading test — twenty fill-in-the-blank questions drawn from forty, eighteen right to pass. It is on a page of its own, so these readings are not open beside it.