Feminist Interpretations of Scripture
Divinity
3169
Thurs.
9:00-10:50
Amy-Jill
Levine
343-3967
(o)
Amy-Jill.Levine@vandeibilt.edu
Using
various reading strategies (historical reconstructions, literary and
sociological criticism, hermeneutical and theological appropriation,
anthropological models, crosscultural comparison, post‑modernist and new
historicist interpretation, film theory, art history, liberationist views,
etc.), this course explores narrative representations, ancient social roles,
and contemporary recuperations of those often viewed as "other":
women, ethnic outsiders, slaves, the unmarried, the 'unsaved,' the sexually
'unnatural' (Rom. 1:26), etc. Primary source materials will focus on canonical
(Old Testament/TaNaK, OTApocrypha/Deuterocanonical, New Testament) texts,
other literatures (Ancient Near Eastern, Pseudepigraphical, Patristic,
Rabbinic, Gnostic), and the material culture of antiquity. Specific topics to
be addressed include women's power and authority; depictions of sexuality;
global interpretive perspectives; Christian feminist anti-Judaism; and the
language of marginalization.
The
course presupposes no prior work in feminist criticism, women's history, or
gender studies. However, it requires basic exposure to the biblical text and
exegetical methods.
REQUIREMENTS:
1
. One
major paper designed for publication in the venue of your choice:
denominational journal, professional journal, newsletter, etc. The form and
length of the paper may be determined by the forum in which you intend to
place it. The final version of your paper is due the last day of class, in
class. The paper is worth 30% of your grade.
2. One short take‑home exercise midway through the semester (see date, below), worth 15 % of your grade.
3. A final exercise, scheduled during the
final examination time, worth 25% of your grade.
4. One 1-hour conversation with me, scheduled any time after the October break. This (semi-)formal talk will address the primary and secondary source readings--and your assessment of them. This chat is worth another 10% of your grade.
5. Because
feminist work is collaborative, you are very
strongly encouraged to participate in discussions. Participation- in
class, independently with me, on e-mail, etc.- is worth 20% of your grade.
Books:
A.
Alice,
Bach, Women in the Hebrew Bible: A
Reader.
B.
Jon
Berquist, Reclaiming Her Story.
C.
Bemadette
Brooten, Love Between Women.
D.
Gerald
Caron, et al., The Women on the
Way with Jesus.
E.
Loretta
C. Dornisch, Paul and Third World Women
Theologians.
F.
J.
Cheryl Exum, Fragmented Women.
G.
Ross
Kraemer and M. R. D'Angelo, Women and
Christian Origins.
H.
Carolyn
Osiek and David Balch, Families in the
NT World.
I.
Gail
Corrington Streete, 7he Strange Woman:
Power and Sex in the Bible.
Please
bring a Bible to class.
Notes:
A. Books available at Cokesbury are also on reserve at the Divinity School Library.
B . Students are welcome to use my personal copies, provided you do so in my office.
C. Students who wish to read the materials in the Hebrew and/or Greek should speak with me about setting up a time.
D. Please
do all readings before the class for which they are assigned.
A
few general questions:
1 . Are the monotheistic vision and dualistic aspect of the creation story inherently bad for women/ diversity?
2. Can
a community define itself without negating, marginalizing, or demonizing
its others (e.g., ethnic others, domestic others
[slaves, women, gay people,
etc.], divine others [competing deities])?
Schedule:
31 August--
Organization
Discussion of syllabus, requirements, what you expect to get out of the class, etc., what "feminist interpretation" is and does; why it matters (or may not).
Test
Cases:
3. Genesis
34.
4. 2 Samuel
11
5. Luke
10:25-42
7
September
-- Beginnings Readings:
1 . Genesis 1-3,
1 Timothy 2.
2. Alice
Bach, Women in the Hebrew Bible, xiii-xxvi.
3. Gail
Corrington Streete, 7he Strange Woman, 1-
19.
14
September
- Patriarchs, Matriarchs, and Tricksters Readings:
a.
Genesis 12-50.
b.
Carol Meyers, "Women and the Domestic Economy of Early
Israel" in Bach.
c.
Aldina da Silva, "The Condition of Women in Mesopotamian and
Biblical Literature," in Caron.
d.
Corrington Streete, Strange
Woman, 20-32.
e.
Esther Fuchs, "Structure and Patriarchal Functions in the Biblical
Betrothal Type-Scene," in Bach.
f.
Nelly Furman, "His Story Versus Her Story: Male Genealogy and
Female Strategy in the Jacob Cycle," in Bach.
g.
J. Cheryl Exum, "Who's Afraid of 'The Endangered
Ancestress'"? in Bach.
h.
J. Cheryl Exum, Fragmented Women,
94-169.
i.
Phyllis Trible, "The Sacrifice of Sarah," in Bach.
j.
Jon Berquist, Reclaiming Her
Story, 41-76.
21
September - Slavery and Settlement Readings:
A. Exodus 1-15, Joshua 2-6, Judges 1-5.
B.
Berquist,
Reclaiming Her Story, 77-89.
C.
Phyllis
Bird, "The Harlot as Heroine," in Bach.
D.
Alice
Bach, "With a Song in Her Heart," in Bach.
E.
Corrington
Streete, Strange Woman, 43-51, 57-62.
F.
Susan
Niditch, "Eroticism and Death in the Tale of Jael," in Bach.
28
September -- Violence and Resistance Readings:
1. Judges 11-21.
2.
Book of
Judith.
3.
Mieke
Bal, Dealing/With/Women: Daughters in the Book of Judges," in Bach.
4.
Alice
Bach, "Rereading the Body Politic," in Bach.
5.
Esther
Fuchs, "The Literary Characterization of Mothers and Sexual Politics in the
Hebrew Bible," in Bach.
6.
Berquist,
Reclaiming Her Story, 90-106,167-75.
7.
J. Cheryl
Exum, Fragmented Women, 9-42,61-93.
8.
Amy-Jill
Levine, "Sacrifice and Salvation: Otherness and Domestication in the Book
of Judith," in Bach.
9.
Mark S.
Camponigro, "Judith, Holding the Tale of Herodotus," in Bach.
10.
Carrington
Streete, Strange Woman, 51-57.
5
October - Reading Week.
12
October - Laws and Restrictions.
Readings:
1 . Exod 20-2 1; 2 8.
2. Lev 12, 15-20.
3. Num 5:11-31; 6; 11-12; 25; 27; 30; 36.
4. Deut 22-28.
5. Romans 1.
6. Tikva Frymer-Kensky, "Law and Philosophy: The Case of Sex in the Bible," in Bach.
7. Corrington Streete, Strange Woman, 32-42.
8. "A Case History: Numbers 5:11-3 l," in Bach (461-522).
9. Phyllis Bird, "The Place of Women in the Israelites Cultus," in Bach.
10. Bernadette Brooten, Love Between Women. (If you have the time, you might wish to view the lecture, on tape, Brooten gave here a few years ago on the topic of her book.)
11. Elizabeth Castelli, "Paul on Women and Gender," in Kraemer and D'Angelo.
19 October - Stephen Moore and Tina Pippin
Readings:
1.
Tina
Pippin, "Introduction"; "Apocalyptic Fear"; "Joy of
(Apocalyptic) Sex"; and "Conclusion" from Apocalyptic Bodies: The Biblical end of the World in Text and Image (New
York: Routledge, 1999), 100-125.
2.
Tina
Pippin, Chapter 4 in Death and Desire.
3.
Stephen
Moore, God's Gym, pp. 117-38.
4.
Stephen
Moore, "Revolting Revelations" in Ingrid Kitzberger (ed.), The
Personal Voice in Biblical Interpretation.
5.
Jean
Kim, "'Uncovering Her Wickedness': An Inter(con)textual Reading of
Revelation 17 from a Postcolonial Perspective," Journal for the
Study of the New Testament 73 (1999)" 61-81.
6.
Lee
Quimby, Chapter 6: "Feeling Jezebel," in Millennial Seduction.
7.
Catherine
Keller, Apocalypse Now and Then, esp.
pp. 64-78.
8.
Corrington
Streete, Strange Woman, 140-58.
26
October - Bethrothals and Boundaries
Readings:
1. 2 Sam 11-14 (revisiting).
2.
Book of
Ruth.
3.
Book of
Esther.
4.
Regina
Schwartz, "Adultery in the House of David" in Bach.
5.
Alice
Bach, "Signs of the Flesh," in Bach.
6.
Esther
Fuchs, "Status and Role of Female Heroines in the Biblical Narrative,"
in Bach.
7.
Edward L.
Greenstein, "Reading Strategies in the Book of Ruth," in Bach.
8.
Danna
Nolan Fewell and David M. Gunn, "'A Son is Born to Naomi!': Literary
Allusions and Intepretation in the Book of Ruth," in Bach.
9.
J. Cheryl
Exum, Fragmented Women, 42-60, 170-201.
10.
Berquist,
Reclaiming Her Story, 107-18, 141-66.
11.
Corrington
Streete, Strange Woman, 61-72.
2
November - Metaphors
Readings:
1. Hosea (esp. 1-3).
2.
Prov. 1-9,
3 1.
3.
Song of
Solomon.
4.
Berquist,
Reclaiming Her Story, 119-140.
5.
Carol A.
Newsom, 'Woman and the Discourse of Patriarchal Wisdom," in Bach.
6.
Claudia
V. Camp, "The Wise Woman of 2 Samuel: A Role Model for Women in Early
Israel?" In Bach.
7.
Jean-Jacques
Lavoie, "Woman in the Song of Songs," in Caron.
8.
Corrington
Streete, Strange Woman, 72-119.
9
November - Divinity
Readings:
A. Susan Ackerman, “’And the Women Knead Dought': The Worship of the Queen of Heaven in Sixth-Century Judah," in Bach.
B.
Howard
Eilberg-Schwartz, "The Problem of the Body for the People of the
Book," in Bach.
C.
Carole R.
Fontaine, "A Heifer from Thy Stable: On Goddesses and the Status of Women
in the Ancient Near East," in Bach.
D.
Susan
Ackerman, "The Queen Mother and the Cult in Ancient Israel," in Bach.
E.
Elizabeth
J. Lacelle, "Feminist Readings and Perspectives in Theology," in
Caron.
F.
Corrington
Streete, Strange Woman, 120‑39.
16 November - Jesus, the Poor, and the Marginalized
1.
Ross
Kraemer and Mary Rose D'Angelo, "Introduction," in Idem, Women
and Christian Origins.
2.
Ross
Kraemer, "Jewish Women and Christian Origins: Some Caveats," in
Kraemer and D'Angelo.
3.
Ross
Kraemer, "Jewish Women and Women's Judaism(s) at the Beginning of
Christianity," in Kraemer and D'Angelo.
4.
Mary Rose
D'Angelo, "Reconstructing 'Real' Women from Gospel Literature: The Case of
Mary Magdalene," in Kraemer and D'Angelo.
5.
Amy-Jill
Levine, "Women in ft Q Communit(ies)
and Traditions," in Kraemer and D'Angelo.
6.
Jean-Frangois
Racine, "Three Approaches to the Position of Women in the Q Document," in Caron.
23 November Thanksgiving
30
November The gospel to the "poor and marginalized"
Readings:
1. Matthew 15.
2.
Mark 7.
3.
John 4.
4.
Luke 7-8.
5.
Mary Rose
D'Angelo, "(Re)presentations of Women in the Gospels," in Kraemer and
D'Angelo.
6.
Mary Rose
D'Angelo, "(Re)presentations of Women in the Gospel of Matthew and Luke-Acts,"
in Kraemer and D'Angelo.
7
December—the
“Paul” Problem.
Readings:
A. Background
1.
Judith P.
Hallett, "Women's Lives in the Ancient Mediterranean," in Kraemer and
D'Angelo.
2.
Lynn R.
LiDonnici, "Women's Religions and Religious Lives in the GrecoRoman
City," in Kraemer and D'Angelo.
3.
Carolyn
Osiek and David Balch, Families in the New
Testament World, 1-90.
B.
Texts
4.
Margaret Y. MacDonald, "Reading Real Women Through the Undisputed
Letters of Paul," in Kraemer and D'Angelo.
5.
Margaret Y. MacDonald, "Early Interpreters of Paul on Women and
Gender," in Kraemer and D'Angelo.
6.
Michel
Gourgues, "Who is Misogynist: Paul or Certain Corinthians?" in Caron.
7.
Loretta Dornisch, Paul and 7hird
World Women Theologians.
8.
Osiek and Balch, Families in the New Testament World, 91-222.
14
December - Ministries
Readings:
1. Judith Plaskow, "Transforming the Nature of Community: Toward a Feminist People of Israel," in Bach.
2.
Elly
Elshout, "Roundtable Discussion: Women with Disabilitie&‑A
Challenge to Feminist Theology," in Bach.
3.
Marc
Girard, "Love as Subjection, the Christian Ideal for Husbands and
Wives," in Caron.
4.
Anne
McGuire, "Women, Gender, and Gnosis in Gnostic Texts and Traditions,"
in Kraemer and D'Angelo.
5.
Francine
Cardman, "Women, Ministry, and Church Order in Early Christianity," in
Kraemer and D'Angelo.
6.
Gail
Corrington Streete, "Women as Sources of Redemption and Knowledge in Early
Christian Traditions," in Kraemer and D'Angelo, Women
and Christian Origins.
7.
Corrington.
Streete, Strange Woman, 159‑72.
8.
Andre
Myre, “The New Testament in the Women's
Bible Commentary," in Caron.
9.
Gerard
Caron, "'Me Authority of the Bible Challenged by Feminist
Hermeneutics," in Caron.
***
Final
Notes:
A.
Please
contact me if you are distressed, oppressed, repressed, or depressed about this
course; the more I know about your concerns, interests, and needs, the more I
can do to meet them.
B.
Please
pay special attention to "Note A."
Books on reserve:
Susan Ackerman, Warrior,
Dancer, Seductress, Queen: Women in Judges and Biblical Israel.
James
M. Arlandson, Women, Class and Society in
Early Christianity.
Jon Berquist, Reclaiming
Her Story.
Athalya Brenner (ed.), Feminist Companion Volumes.
Bernadette
Brooten, Love Between Women.
Gerald Caron, et al., The Women on the Way with Jesus.
Kathleen Corley, Private
Women, Public Meals.
Loretta C. Dornisch, Paul and 7hird World Women Theologians.
J Cheryl Exum, Fragmented
Women.
Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 10th anniversary Edition.
E. S. Fiorenza (ed.), Searching the Scriptures, vols. 1, 2.
Ingrid Rosa Kitzberger (ed.), Transformative encounters : Jesus and womem re‑viewed.
Kwok Pui-Lan and Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza (eds.),
Women's Sacred Scriptures.
Carol Meyers, et al. (eds.), Women in scripture : a dictionary of named and unnamed women in the
Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books, and the New Testament.
Stephen Moore, God's
Gym.
Carol Newsom and Sharon Ringe (eds.), Women's
Bible Commentary, exp. ed.
Carolyn Osiek and David Balch, Families in the NT World.
Alicia Susan Ostriker, The Nakedness of the Fathers.
Leo G. Perdue et al., Families in Ancient Israel.
Tina Pippin, Apocalyptic
Bodies.
Tina Pippin, Death
and Desire.
Luise Schottroff. Lydia's Impatient Sisters.
Yvonne Sherwood, The
Prostitute and the Prophet.
Gail Corrington Streete, 7he Strange Woman; Power and Sex in the Bible.