Religious Literacy

The following definition of religious literacy articulated by Diane L. Moore from Harvard Divinity School’s Religious Literacy Project. Religious Literacy in its most basic sense means knowing about world religions and how religion is interwoven with culture and politics:

“Religious literacy entails the ability to discern and analyze the fundamental intersections of religion and social/political/cultural life through multiple lenses. Specifically, a religiously literate person will possess:

  1. a basic understanding of the history, central texts (where applicable), beliefs, practices and contemporary manifestations of several of the world’s religious traditions as they arose out of and continue to be shaped by particular social, historical and cultural contexts
  2. the ability to discern and explore the religious dimensions of political, social and cultural expressions across time and place” https://rlp.hds.harvard.edu/our-approach/what-is-religious-literacy

 

At MU, we want students to know about the practices and people of diverse faiths. It helps us understand our Marymount community, as well as make us informed citizens. We have multiple events on religious literacy – like the religious literacy prize wheel.