Religious law disciplines and formation of general cultural competencies in students

¹ Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, Faculty of Law, Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
² Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, Faculty of Law, Department of Theory and History of the State and Law, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
³ Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, Faculty of Law, Department of Criminal Law and Procedure, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

¹ Corresponding author: elza_r@mail.ru

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to substantiate the fundamental correlation between the spiritual health of the society and civil peace and harmony in the country, as well as to analyse the efficiency of teaching religious law disciplines in the context of the formation of major general cultural competencies in law students. The methodological basis of the study was represented by the civilisational approach, the dialectical method, general logical methods as well as the integrative approach that made it possible to combine legal and religious aspects within the framework of special interdisciplinary academic disciplines. Observation and interviewing techniques were also used. It was found out in the course of the study that one of the most important components of countering external and internal threats to the national security is one’s spiritual and moral foundations that must be formed in the student environment in the process of educational work, in particular, within the framework of teaching special religious law disciplines. They should be conceptually based on the postulate that religion, culture and law constitute a single civilisational aggregate characterised by complex internal interrelations and patterns of development. Students should realise that the knowledge of these laws makes it possible to understand that, despite the difference in civilisational models, there exists a fundamental affinity in the basic principles of different religious confessions and basic cultural aspirations of various nations. The novelty of the work is accounted for by the conclusion that the study of spiritual and moral foundations of the existing religious and non-religious spiritual doctrines, as well as the fundamental links between religion and law, contributes to the formation of basic general cultural competencies in students, as well as positive value attitudes.