Gender, Justice, Empire: Contextual Readings of the OT (BA3040P)

Content

This unit explores the relationship between issues of gender, justice and empire in Old Testament interpretation. Through a study of a number of Old Testament texts, particularly those which narrate the experience of women within the wider social and imperial contexts, we will consider how these themes are configured and related within biblical traditions. We will engage in a close reading of a range of primary Old Testament texts and contemporary feminist/womanist and other (culturally diverse) scholarship about these texts and will also examine how these hermeneutical perspectives engage and critique traditional exegetical approaches. The approach will be interdisciplinary and will provide students opportunity to study these texts alongside contemporary women’s experiences and portrayals of women in other media such as art, film, poetry and law.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

A prerequisite is a foundational unit in the Hebrew Bible

Pedagogy

Assigned readings; Lectures; Tutorials

Indicative Bibliography

1. Blyth, Caroline. Emily Colgan, and Katie B. Edwards, (eds). Rape Culture, Gender Violence, & Religion: Biblical Perspectives. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
2. Claassens, Juliana L. Writing and Reading to Survive: Biblical and Contemporary Trauma Narratives in Conversation. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2020.
3. Claassens, Juliana L., and Carolyn J. Sharp, (eds). Feminist Frameworks and the Bible: Power, Ambiguity and Intersectionality. London: t&t Clark, 2017.
4. Davies, Eryl W. The Dissenting Reader: Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2003.
5. Fewell, Danna N., and Gunn, David M. Gender, Power and Promise: The Subject of the Bible’s First Story. Nashville: Abingdon, 1993.
6. Day, Linda and Pressler, Carolyn (eds). Engaging the Bible in a Gendered World: An Introduction to Feminist Biblical Interpretation in honor of K. B. Sakenfeld. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Know, 2006.
7. Havea, Jione, David J. Neville, & Elaine M. Cartwright, (eds). Bible, Borders, Belonging(s): Engaging Readings from Oceania. Atlanta: SBL, 2014.
8. Newsome, Carol A., Sharon H. Ringe, and Jacqueline E. lapsley (eds). The Women’s Bible Commentary, (Third edition), Twentieth Anniversary Edition. Revised and Expanded. London/Louisville: SPCK/Westminster John Knox, 2012.
9. Roncace, Mark and Joseph Weaver (eds.). Global Perspectives on the Bible. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2012.
10. West, Gerald, ed. Reading Otherwise: Socially Engaged Biblical Scholars Reading with their Local Communities. Atlanta: SBL. 2007.

Assessment