Handling Texts of Terror (DM9600T)

Content

This unit starts with the recognition that some Biblical texts seem to endorse behaviour which is harmful. Students will be encouraged to identify these “texts of terror” and develop apologetic, hermeneutic and transformative strategies to dismantle oppressive readings.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

An introductory unit in either BA or BN or equivalent

Pedagogy

Lectures and class discussion; assignments

Indicative Bibliography

• Blyth, Caroline et al. Rape Culture, Gender Violence and Religion: Biblical Perspectives. Cham: Springer, 2018.
• Boer, Roland. Last Stop before Antarctica Atlanta: SBL, 2008
• Campbell, Antony F. Making Sense of the Bible: Difficult Texts and Modern Faith. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 2010.
• Caron, Gerald (ed), Women Also Journeyed with Him: Feminist Perspectives on the Bible. Collegeville: Liturgical Press,2000)
• Kloppenborg , John S. (ed). Apocalypticism, Anti-Semitism and the Historical Jesus: Subtexts in Criticism. London: T&T Clark, 2005.
• Loader, William. Making Sense of Sex: Attitudes towards Sexuality in Early Jewish and Christian Literature. Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans, 2013.
• Prior, Michael. The Bible and Colonialism: A Moral Critique. Sheffield: SAP, 1997.
• Thompson, John L. *Writing the Wrongs: Women of the Old Testament from Philo through the Reformatio*n. Oxford, OUP, 2001
• Trible, Phyllis. Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984.
• Whitford, David M. The Curse of Ham in the Early Modern Era. Ashgate, 2009.

Assessment