Women in Judaism and Islam
Religious Studies 005/Women's Studies 109
Course Description
Muslim and Jewish women and the understanding of gender in religion. Attitudes toward the body (sex, purity, fertility, clothing, and seclusion) will be considered comparatively. Beginning with the generation of women exemplars in the Prophet’s community in Medina and with evidence of women’s activities in scholarship, mysticism, and the economic sphere over fourteen hundred years, we consider current Western views of Muslim women in a critical light. Why are modern Jewish and Muslim women choosing to practice their religions traditionally? How are women re-interpreting the sacred texts of Judaism and Islam at the end of the twentieth century? How has feminism affected the participation of women in public religious discourse and in the modern revivalist movements?
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