Comparative Religions, from Master Books, was my daughter’s favorite course this past school year. Find out what she loved about it, what I appreciated about it and what the course is all about in this post!
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First, a little back story. My daughter wanted to take Comparative Religions her freshman year but she already had a full load of classes. I suggested she hold off taking it until her sophomore year. That ended up being a great option as Comparative Religions complemented her 10th grade World History course well.
I was even more excited when Master Books offered to send me the Comparative Religions course for free to review. I already planned on using it and sharing it with all of you, so getting it for free was a sweet deal. Thank you, Master Books!
Comparative Religions Overview
Comparative Religions: Practical Apologetics for the Real World is a full-year, high school level course geared towards 11th and 12th graders. It examines different religions, cults and belief systems from around the world while holding each one up to the light of Scripture.
The curriculum set includes:
- A Teacher Guide which includes course objectives and description, suggested grading rubrics for essays, a suggested daily schedule that can be taken out and given to the student, worksheets, quizzes, tests and the answer keys.
- World Religions and Cults: Counterfeits of Christianity (Volume 1)
- World Religions and Cults: Moralistic, Mythical and Mysticism Religions (Volume 2)
- World Religions and Cults: Atheistic and Humanistic Religions (Volume 3)
- A poster with church and denominational history from Creation to present day.
This is a reading heavy course and students should be prepared to spend 45 to 60 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 180 days working through it.
Comparative Religions Was Her Favorite Course
My daughter really enjoyed the Comparative Religions course. As someone who is interested in missions and sharing the gospel overseas, this course was very interesting to her. It helped her better understand different religions, how they developed, and how they compare to Christianity.
She was thankful that the course didn’t go too deep into each religion but rather emphasized the importance of studying and knowing the Bible so that you can more easily recognize counterfeit religions.
Not only did she enjoy reading the chapters, she also found the numerous articles in the appendix section to be insightful especially, “Tools for Engaging People from Other Religions” found in Appendix 1 of the second volume.
What Mom Appreciated About the Course
There were several things that I appreciated about this course. The first one was its ease of use. The suggested daily schedule, that is included in the Teacher Guide, makes it easy for the student to work independently. It also means no lesson planning for mom! Keeping track of grades is also easy thanks to a column on the daily schedule for recording the student’s score on different assignments, quizzes and tests.
Another thing that I have always appreciated about Master Books’ curriculum is its affordability. High school level courses can get really expensive but this year-long course is very affordable.
Finally, I appreciated the Biblical worldview woven throughout Comparative Religions. This course goes above and beyond just teaching about other religions. It looks at each belief system through the lens of Scripture with the hope that “you, the reader, will be able to see the truth of God’s Word through the Holy Spirit by opening you up to see the gospel found only in the work of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and His work on the Cross for our sin.” (World Religions and Cults, V. 1, page 20)
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