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Religion and Gender

Course ID: THEO 278
School:Arts and Sciences, College of
Program: Theology
Credit Hours: 3

Course Description

This course will consider the relationship between gender and religious authority by focusing on prophets in ancient Judaism and ancient Christianity. The course will consider prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, but also beyond them, locating these texts in wide ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern contexts. It will map different models of gender in the ancient world, locating male, female, and nonbinary prophets alongside one another. This course will interrogate the ways that claims to prophecy are also claims to power, examining the role of the prophet as a speaker who must be taken seriously. We will also explore, however, the ways that texts present prophets as figures under control, by focusing on the ways that prophets are often subject to divine violence in inspiration. In these ways, the course will analyze the intersections of prophecy, gender, violence, and power. This course will focus on three sets of questions: (1) What is the gender of the prophet, and of the deity? Does their gender conform to categories of masculine or feminine, or does it belong to another category? (2) How does divine inspiration affect the body and mind of the prophet? Is the encounter between a prophet and a god violent? If so, is the encounter one of sexual violence? (3) To whose authority does this prophecy contribute (the god¿s, the prophet¿s, the author¿s)? How does gender play a role in the production of that authority through prophecy? Outcomes: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the influence of religion on gender roles, and how women in the contemporary world are reinterpreting their religious traditions.

Theology (THEO): Loyola University Chicago (luc.edu)