Zoroastrianism: History, Religion and Belief An Online Course by Sarah Stewart and Céline Redard
arZan
Zoroastrianism has had a profound influence on major world religions. Its history tells the story of imperial culture, persecution, and migration.
Utilising a rich visual repository of artifacts, paintings, and texts, this four-week course will take you through the story of Zoroastrian religion, history, and culture.
The three first weeks draw inspiration from an exhibition titled ‘The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination’. The fourth and last week provides an exploration of the Avestan language, in which most of the Zoroastrian ritual texts are written.
Zoroastrianism: History, Religion and Belief: An Online Course by Sarah Stewart and Céline Redard
Available free from FutureLearn
Sign Up Now
Overview of the content
Week 1 Who was Zarathushtra and what did he teach?
Welcome to the course (1.1 – 1.5)
Introducing Zarathushtra (1.6 – 1.7)
Teachings, the Gathas (1.8 – 1.9)
Teachings: Creation and the doctrine of the Amesha Spentas (1.10 – 1.12)
Week 2 Historical Perspectives: Iran
The central act of priestly worship: Yasna (2.1)
The Ancient World and the Achaemenid Empire (2.2 – 2.5)
The Parthian and Sasanian Empires (2.6 – 2.9)
After the Arab conquest of Iran (2.10 – 2.13)
Week 3 Historical Perspectives: India
Influence of Zoroastrian religious thought on world religions (3.1)
Journey from Iran and early settlement in India (3.2 – 3.4)
Devotional life and rites of passage (3.5 – 3.7)
Challenges facing Zoroastrians today (3.8 – 3.10)
Week 4 Avestan
Introduction (4.1 – 4.2)
Let’s start with letters (4.3 – 4.6)
An Avestan text: the victory of Zaraϑuštra over the demons (4.7 – 4.12)