In 2016 Dr Susan Brett of Cottingham read a positive review on the religious page in The Times one Saturday, of a Harvard University ‘MOOC’ – a ‘Massive Open Online Course’ – on Religious Literacy, and found she was just in time to start the Christianity module.

“I declared to Harvard that I would embark as a read-through. They are very flexible so eventually I emerged at the end of the series, having done the Introduction as my last module and having engaged in all the discussions and assessments as it was a great opportunity to learn a great deal.

“The course comprised an introduction, and modules on Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism, each with their respective scriptures. Each was allocated one month.”

“These MOOCs were excellent in content and thought provoking; I would recommend them both for those proposing to read the course content, and for those wishing to complete the on-line assessments.”

During 2018 Harvard University is repeating its series of free on-line courses about Religious Literacy: the introductory course ‘Religion, Conflict and Peace’ began on 8th January 2018. This is self-paced and can be joined after that date.

Then on 1st March the first of a series, ‘World Religions through their Scriptures’ begins. These are courses on Christianity and its Scriptures, Buddhism and its Scriptures, Islam and its Scriptures, Hinduism and its Scriptures and Judaism and its Scriptures.

Access is at bit.ly/2BJ9Pcy or by searching for Harvard EdX, then accessing Courses, then searching for ‘Religion, Conflict and Peace’.

New students create an ‘EdX Account’ with a unique user name, and it is possible for Harvard to send reminders of the starting dates of the later parts of the series.