Women and Religion
Religious Studies 005-401/Women's Studies 109-401/Folklore 029-401 |
Teaching
Assistants:
Alberta Ferrario alberta@sas.upenn.edu
Office hours: TBA
Jason Blum jnblum@sas.upenn.edu
Office hours: TBA
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Women and Religion - Spring 2004
For
the last several decades religion has been at the top of some women's
lists of organizations that have worked against women. In answer
to this, some women continued to follow their family religious tradition
while remaining feminists. Many women worked toward gender equity
in leadership of their religions. Others dropped out altogether
from religion or formed their own, woman-centered religions. A new
movement has been building for the last ten years. Women with the
power to make a choice to leave traditional religions have chosen
to stay, often drawing criticism from feminists. Why?
This
course examines gender and religion: in speaking of God, in creation
narratives, in family structures, in attitudes toward the body,
in the history of religious movements. We look at the new ways of
reading foundational religious texts that attempt to expose and
counter sexism in religious texts and social structures. While we
will consider women in non-western religions for comparison, especially
in the Indian tradition (Hinduism), primary attention is directed
toward women in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition. Is there
an Islamic Reformation brewing based on new views of women and gender?
The course focuses on women's interpretation and experience.
Course
evaluation
25%
Lecture attendance. Participation in and preparation for recitation.
If you have to miss a recitation meeting, please email your TA before
recitation time.
30% Two response papers (1-2 page each) a month on one of the required
readings for the week plus a typed one-page review of each film.
Due in recitation. Your TA will give them letter grades.
20% Take-home midterm essay (4-5 pages: 12 font, double spaced,
1 inch margins). If you receive a B+ or higher on your midterm,
you can elect to write a 10-15 page paper instead of taking the
final. Meet with one of us to choose a topic and discuss resources.
25% Final exam, questions handed out in advance.
Texts
At Penn Book Center, 34th and Sansome
(215) 222-7600
R.
Biale Women and Jewish Law
J. Esposito Abraham's Daughters: Feminist Thought in Judaism, Christianity
and Islam
A. Wadud Qur'an and Woman
D. Ruttenberg Yentyl's Revenge: The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism
Novels
for last 3 weeks:
L. Halaby West of the Jordan: A Novel
A. Roiphe Lovingkindness
L. Winner Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life
You
do not have to purchase books. These books are on reserve in Rosengarten
in Van Pelt Library. From Franklin Webpage, choose "Course Reserves"
and enter my name.
Bulkpack
(at Wharton Reprographics)
Each
topic has assigned readings. Articles that are suitable for response
papers are marked "RP." A separate handout lists exam prep articles
for each topic. Use them (and only them) for writing your exam essays.
They are also available online on our Blackboard site.
Inclusion
of a piece of writing as an assignment does not mean that you must
accept the author's views. In fact, I encourage you to be vigorously
critical in your analyses of the readings and films.
I will hand out examples of good responses from the past.
Lecture Schedule
January
12 and 14 Introduction to the Study of Women and Religion,
Eve
Reading:
• Genesis 1- 3 (Philadelphia: JPS, 1995). Handout.
• Rosenfeld, Y. "You Take Lilith, I'll Take Eve: A Closer
Look at the World's Second Feminist" from D. Ruttenberg, ed., Yentl's
Revenge: The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism, 131-53. Handout. RP.
• Wadud "In the Beginning, Man and Woman Were Equal," Qur'an
and Woman, 15-28. RP.
Assignment
for class this Wednesday: Bring in the worst misogynist statement
you can find, from any religious text. Handwritten is fine. Give
your source.
In
recitations we watch the B. Meyerhoff film "In Her Own Time" (1985)
on the LA Jewish orthodox community of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem
Schneersohn (d. 1994). No review.
Jan
21 Sarah and Hagar in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam:
Matronizing the Bible
Reading:
• B. von Schlegell, "Hagar" from S. Young, ed. Encyclopedia
of Women and World Religion (NY: Macmillan, 1999).
• R. Behar, "Sarah and Hagar" and S. Ezrahi, "Brothers and
Others" from G.T. Reimer and J. Kates, eds., Beginning Anew: A Woman's
Companion to the High Holy Days (NY: 1997). RP.
Due
in recitation: Response paper on any of the Eve or Sarah/Hagar items
marked with RP.
Jan
26 God-language: Can God be Gendered?
Reading:
• R. Adler, "God and Metaphor," Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive
Theology and Ethics (Philadelphia: 1998), 83-103. RP.
• E. Pagels, "What Became of God the Mother? Conflicting
Images of God in Early Christianity," from C. Christ and J.
Plaskow, eds., Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion
(San Francisco: 1979). RP.
Jan
28 and Feb 2 Introduction to Judaism. Jewish Women in
History
Reading:
• R. Adler, "The Virgin in the Brothel…The Legend of
Beruriah," Tikkun 3,6.
• Gluekel of Hamlen (d. 1724), Memoirs. Selection. RP.
Feb
4 "The Shakers" (Ken Burns, USA film,
1985)
Feb
9 and 11 Introduction to Christianity. Christian Women
in History
Reading:
• S. Madigan, ed. Mystics, Visionaries, and Prophets. "Hildegard
von Bingen - Song about the Virgin" and "New Styles of Female Spirituality
- Christina Mirabilis."
• The Book of Margery Kempe (born 1373). Selection. RP.
Feb
16 and 18 Introduction to Islam. Muslim Women in History
Reading:
• N. Keddie, "Introduction: Deciphering Middle Eastern Women's
History" and L. Ahmed, "Early Islam and the Position of Women: The
Problem of Interpretation" from N. Keddie and B. Baron, eds., Women
in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender
(New Haven: Yale, 1991). RP.
• F. Mernissi, "How Does One Say 'Queen' in Islam?" from idem.,
The Forgotten Queens of Islam (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press, 1990) pp. 9-25. RP.
Feb
23 Comparative Views on the Body: I Hair, Modesty, and
Public Space
Reading:
• L. Bronner, "From Veil to Wig: Jewish Women's Hair
Covering," Judaism 42: 465-477. RP.
• 1Corinthians and 1,2 Timothy. J.M. Bassler, "1 Corinthians,"
from C. Newsom and S. Ringe, eds., The Women's Bible Commentary
(Louisville, KY: 1992) pp. 321-329.
• M. Sherif, "What is Hijab?" The Muslim World 77:
3-4 (July-Oct. 1987): 151-163. RP.
Midterm
essay questions handed out Monday Feb. 23. Completed essays are
due by 4:30 p.m. Wednesday March 3 to your recitation leader - either
in person or to her/his box in 201 Logan Hall. Out of respect for
those who turn their exams in on time, late exams will be docked
1/3 a day (e.g. from a B to a B-).
Feb
25 II Purity and Menstruation, Milk and Blood
Reading:
• R. Biale, "Introduction" pp. 3-9, Chapter 6 "Niddah: Laws
of the Menstruant" pp. 147-174, Women and Jewish Law (NY: 1995).
RP.
• C. Bynum, "The Female Body and Religious Practice in the
Later Middle Ages," from idem., Fragmentation and Redemption: Gender
and the Human Body in Medieval Religion (NY, 1992). RP.
• K. Reinhart, "Impurity/No Danger," History of
Religions 30, 1 (1990): 1-24. RP.
March
1 and 3 III Circumcision and Sex
Reading:
• M. Anees, "Circumcision: The Clitoral Inferno,"
Islamic Culture 63, 3 (1989): 77-92. RP.
• B. Brooten, "Clitoredectomy" from Love between Women: Early
Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago : University
of Chicago Press, 1996) pp. 162-172.
• R. Biale, Women and Jewish Law. "Sexuality outside of Marriage:
Incest, Adultery, Promiscuity, and Lesbianism" pp. 175-197. RP.
• J. Brundage, "'Allas! That Evere Love was Synne': Sex
and Medieval Canon Law" and "'Better to Marry than to
Burn?' The Case of the Vanishing Dichotomy" from Sex, Law and
Marriage in the Middle Ages (Aldershot, Great Britain and Brookfield,
Vt.: Variorum, 1993) pp. 1-13, 195-216. RP.
March
8 - 12 Spring Break
March
15 IV Virginity, Conception, Marriage, Divorce
Required
Readings:
• J. Hauptman, "Relations between the Sexes," in idem., Re-reading
the Rabbi's: A Woman's Voice (Boulder: Westview, 1998). RP.
• S. Haeri, "Temporary Marriage and the State in Iran: An
Islamic Discourse on Female Sexuality" Journal of Social Research
59 (Spring, 1992): 201-223. RP.
March
17 "Divorce Iranian Style" (Iran 1998,
film)
March
22 Women, Spirituality, and Religious Ritual
Class
visits to temple, synagogue, church, mosque this week (details in
class). No recitation meetings. Comment on your visit for this week's
assignment, due along with film review in recitation Mar 29 or 31.
(The readings will be used for the exam and recitation discussion.)
Reading:
• B.R. von Schlegell, "Islamic Revivalism and Mysticism among
Muslim Women in Damascus" (unpublished ms.).
• Levy, K. "Sexy Rabbi," from D. Ruttenberg, ed., Yentl's
Revenge: The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism (Seal Pr., 2001).
• Y. Chireau, "Prophetess of the Spirits: Mother Leaf Anderson
and the Black Spiritual Churches of New Orleans" from B.M. Kienzle
and P. Walker, eds., Women Preachers and Prophets, pp. 303-317.
March
24 Women's Roles in the Hindu Tradition
Reading:
• V. Narayanan, "The Hindu Tradition" from W. G.
Oxtoby, World Religions: Eastern Traditions (Don Mills, Ontario:
Oxford University Press, 2002) pp. 90-104.
• J. Leslie, "Suttee or Sati: Victim or Victor?"
from J. Leslie, ed., Roles and Rituals for Hindu Women (Rutherford:
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1991) pp. 175-191. RP.
• W. Doniger, trans., The Laws of Manu (London: Penguin Books,
1991) pp. 197-209.
March 29 Women Saints, Ascetics and Goddesses in India
Reading:
• T. Pintchman, "Is the Hindu Goddess Tradition a Good
Resource for Western Feminism?", from A. Hiltebeitel and K.
M. Erndl, eds., Is the Goddess a Feminist? The Politics of South
Asian Goddesses. (New York: New York University Press, 2000) pp.
187-202. RP.
• L. Gupta, "Kali the Savior" in P. M. Cooly, W.
R. Eakin, and J. B. McDaniel, eds., After Patriarchy: Feminist Transformations
of the World Religions (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991) pp.
15-38. RP.
March
31 and April 5 Women's Revivalism and Modernities: I
Judaism
Reading:
• Bleyer, J. "From Riot Grrl to Yeshiva Girl, or How I Became
My Own Damn Rabbi" and Wages, E. "You Wear a Kippah?" from Yentl's
Revenge.
• A. Levine "Settling at Beer-lahai-roi" and L. Berner "Hearing
Hannah's Voice," from J. Esposito and Y. Haddad, ed.s, Daughters
of Abraham.
• Lovingkindness (novel). RP.
April
7 and 12 II Christianity
Reading:
• A. Laffrey, "The Influence of Feminism on Christianity"
and R.R. Ruether, "Christian Feminist Theology," from J. Esposito
Daughters of Abraham.
• Girl Meets God (memoir). RP.
Film
clip "Rapture" (Hollywood 1991, no review)
April
14 and 19 III Islam
Reading:
• A. Wadud, "Rights and Roles of Woman: Some Controversies,"
62-93 from idem., Qur'an and Woman (Oxford, 1992).
• West of the Jordan (novel). RP.
April
21 "Boys, Girls and the Veil" (Egypt 2000,
film)
(Film
response due in your TA's box in 201 Logan by April 26)
*Final
exam essay questions and a list of ID's will be handed out in class.
I hope that you will organize your thoughts ahead of time, but the
final exam is not open-book. The Registrar schedules the finals
- watch online.
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Materials
available on Blackboard (online) and on reserve in Rosengarten (hard
copies) |
| Exam
prep articles arranged chronologically by lecture topic: |
Sarah and Hagar in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam:
Matronizing the Bible
D. Williams, "Hagar's Story" and "Sisters in the Wilderness" from
Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk (Maryknoll,
NY: Orbis Books, 1993).
God-language:
Can God be Gendered?
"Julian of Norwich," from S. Madigan, Mystics, Visionaries,
and Prophets (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998) pp. 191-208.
C. Christ, "Rethinking Theology and Nature," from J. Plaskow
and C. Christ, eds., Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist
Spirituality (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1989) pp. 314-325.
E.A. Matter, "The Virgin Mary: A Goddess?" from C. Olson, ed., The
Book of the Goddess: Past and Present (NY: Crossroad, 1983) pp.
80-95.
S. Murata, "Divine Duality," The Tao of Islam: A Sourcebook on Gender
Relationships in Islam, selection (NY: SUNY, 1992).
Introduction
to Judaism. Jewish Women in History
J. Baskin, "Jewish Women in the Middle Ages," pp. 101-123
and R. Melammed, "Sephardi Women," pp. 128-149 from J.
Baskin, ed., Jewish Women in Historical Perspective (Detroit: Wayne
State University Press, 2nd. ed., 1998).
R. Kraemer, "Jewish Women in the Diaspora World of Late Antiquity,"
pp. 46-72 from J. Baskin, ed., Jewish Women in Historical Perspective.
L. Khazzoom, "United Jewish Feminist Front," 168-80 from Yentyl's
Revenge.
N. Deutsch, The Maiden of Ludmor: A Jewish Holy Woman and Her World
(Berkeley, 2003). Selection.
C. Weissler, "Prayers in Yiddish and the Religious World of
Ashkenazi Women," pp. 169-192 from J. Baskin, ed., Jewish Women
in Historical Perspective.
Introduction
to Christianity. Christian Women in History
E. Castelli, "'I Will Make Mary Male': Pieties of the Body and Gender
Transformation of Christian Women in Late Antiquity" from J. Epstein
and K. Straub, eds., BodyGuards: The Cultural Politics of Gender
Ambiguity (NY and London: Routledge, 1991) pp. 29-49.
E. Schussler Fiorenza, "The Jesus Movement as a Renewal Movement
within Judaism" and "Epilogue" from In Memory of Her: A Feminist
Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins (New York: Crossroad,
1983) pp. 99-159, 343-351.
F.A. Petroff, Medieval Women's Visionary Literature, "Pelagia the
Actress."
K. King, "Prophetic Power and Women's Authority: The Case of the
Gospel of Mary (Magdalene)," 21-33; K. Jansen "Maria Magdalena:
Apostolorum Apostola," 57-80; and R. Rusconi "Women's Sermons at
the End of the Middle Ages," 173-91 from B.M. Kienzle and P. Walker,
eds., Women Preachers and Prophets through Two Millennia of Christianity
(Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1998).
S. Madigan, ed. "Hildegard von Bingen - Song about the Virgin" and
"New Styles of Female Spirituality - Christina Mirabilis." Mystics,
Visionaries, and Prophets. Introduction
to Islam. Muslim Women in History
M. Fadel, "Two Women, One Man: Knowledge, Power and Gender
in Medieval Sunni Legal Thought," International Journal of
Middle Eastern Studies. 29 (1997): 185-204.
R. Roded, "Transmitters of Knowledge," 63-90 and "Mystic Women,"
91-114, from idem., Women in Islamic Biographical Dictionaries (Boulder
and London, 1994).
Comparative
Views on the Body: I Hair, Modesty, and Public Space
S. Zuhur, "New Images or Continuous Archetypes?" and "Dreaming
the Myth, and Veiling It" from Revealing Reveiling: Islamist
Gender Ideology in Contemporary Egypt (Albany: State University
of New York Press, 1992) pp. 1-16, 125-134.
Maududi, Abul A'la, Purdah and the Status of Woman in Islam trans.
Al-Ashari. (Lahore, 1972). Selection.
Thanawi, 'Ali (d. 1943 in India), Bihishti Zewar, trans. Barbara
Metcalf as Perfecting Women (Berkeley, 1990). Selection.
II
Purity and Menstruation: Milk and Blood
J. Hauptman, "Niddah" from Re-reading the Rabbis: A Woman's Voice,
pp. 147-76.
V. Ochs, Words on Fire: One Woman's Journey into the Sacred (San
Diego: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1990) selection pp. 217-234.
A. Giladi, Infants, Parents and Wetnurses: Medieval Islamic Views
on Breastfeeding and Their Social Implications (Leiden, 1998). Selection.
III
Circumcision and Sex
V. Rispler-Chaim, "Circumcision" from Islamic Medical
Ethics in the 20th Century (Leiden: EJ Brill, 1993) pp. 84-93.
S. Murray and W. Roscoe, eds., "Introduction," "Woman-Woman
Love in Islamic Societies," and "Conclusion" from Islamic Homosexualities:
Culture, History, and Literature (New York: New York University
Press, 1997) pp. 3-13, 97-104, 302-319.
D. Hornreich, "I was a cliché," 44-51, from Yentyl's Revenge.
Blank, H. "The 'Big O' Also Means 'Olam'" from D. Ruttenberg, ed.,
Yentl's Revenge: The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism (Seal Pr., 2001)
194-205.
IV
Virginity, Conception, Marriage, Divorce
E.A. Matter "My Sister, My Spouse" from J. Plaskow and C. Christ,
eds., Weaving the Visions (San Francisco: HarperSanFranscico, 1989)
pp. 51-62.
B. Musallam, "Contraception and the Rights of Women" from
Sex and Society in Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1983) pp. 28-38.
S. Murata, "Mysteries of Marriage: Notes on a Sufi Text" from L.
Lewisohn, ed., The Legacy of Mediaeval Persian Sufism (London and
NY: Khaniqah Nimatullahi Pub., 1992) pp. 343-351.
Women's
Roles in the Hindu Tradition
M. McGee, "Desired Fruit: Motive and Intention in the Votive
Rites of Hindu Women" from J. Leslie, ed., Roles and Rituals
for Hindu Women (Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press,
1991) pp. 71-88.
L. Gupta, "Hindu Women and Ritual Empowerment" from K.
L. Karen, ed., Women and Goddess Traditions: in Antiquity and Today
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997) pp. 85-110.
S. C. Kersenboom, "The Traditional Repertoire of the Tiruttani
Temple Dancers" from J. Leslie, ed., Roles and Rituals for
Hindu Women (Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1991)
pp. 131-147.
Women Saints, Ascetics and Goddesses in India
S. Gupta, "Women in the Saiva/Sakta Ethos", from J. Leslie,
ed., Roles and Rituals for Hindu Women (Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson
University Press, 1991) pp. 193-209.
L. T. Denton, "Varieties of Hindu Female Asceticism" from
J. Leslie, ed., Roles and Rituals for Hindu Women (Rutherford: Fairleigh
Dickinson University Press, 1991) pp. 211-231.
K. M. Erndl, "Is Shakti Empowering for Women? Reflections on
Feminism and the Hindu Goddess" from A. Hiltebeitel and K.
M. Erndl, eds., Is the Goddess a Feminist? The Politics of South
Asian Goddesses. (New York: New York University Press, 2000) pp.
91-103.
Women's
Revivalism and Modernities: I Judaism
L. Harris, "A Brief Social and Religious History of Hasidism,"
"The Mikvah (Ritual Bath)," and "A Wedding"
from Holy Days: The World of a Hasidic Family (New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1985) pp. 32-53, 135-149, 242-250.
T. El-Or, "Educated and Ignorant," and "Afterword:
Cultures in Context," from Educated and Ignorant: Ultraorthodox
Jewish Women and Their World (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner,
1994) pp. 65-87, 207-214.
II
Christianity
R. Griffith, "Released, Restored, Set Free," and "Conclusion"
from God's Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission
(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997)
55-79, 199-213.
III
Islam
H.
Abugideiri, "Hagar" and A. Sonbol, "Rethinking Women and Islam"
from J. Esposito and Y. Haddad, ed.s, , Daughters of Abraham.
E. Fernea, "The United States: Coming Home" and "Conclusion"
from In Search of Islamic Feminism (New York: Doubleday, 1998) pp.
364-413, 414-422.
A. al-Hibri, "Who Defines Women's Rights? A Third World Woman's
Response," Washington College of Law Human Rights Brief (Fall
1994): 9 - 11.
A. Bewley. Islam: The Empowering of Women (London, 1999). Selection.
M. Badran, "Independent Women: More Than a Century of Feminism
in Egypt," from J. Tucker, ed., Arab Women: Old Boundaries,
New Frontiers (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993) pp.
129-148.
S. Arebi, "Gender Anthropology in the Middle East: The Politics
of Muslim Women's Misrepresentation," American Journal of Islamic
Social Sciences 8, 1 (1991): 99-108.
A. Wadud, "Introduction: How Perceptions of Woman Influence Interpretation
of the Qur'an" 1-14, "The Qur'anic View of Women in this World,"
29-43, Qur'an and Woman (Oxford, 1992).
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