Department of Religious Studies

Why was fertility such a hot topic for the writers of the Hebrew Bible? What did it take to be an ‘ideal’ man in the ancient world? And why are women so often used as metaphors in the biblical prophets? This course will trace the relationships among gender, sex, and cultural power in Jewish antiquity through the Hebrew Bible, including its depiction of Deborah as a prophet, judge, and military strategist, David as a polyamorous partner and political upstart, and Judith as a widow-assassin. We will explore how concepts like sexuality, religious devotion, and ethnicity diversely intersect with gender within the Bible and its earliest interpreters.

Credits: A&H