Course Description
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 and recitation attendance, and participation in recitation. If you have to miss a recitation meeting, please email before recitation time.
25% Two responses (1-2 page each) a month on one of the required readings for the week (only one response due in Jan and April) plus a one-page review of one of our films. Due in recitation. They will be given a plus, check, or minus sign.
20% Take-home midterm essay (4-5 pages: 12 font, double spaced, 1 inch margins).
30% Final exam, questions handed out in advance.
There is no paper required for the class. But if you receive an A- or higher on your midterm, you can elect to write a 10-15 page paper instead of taking the final. (Please note that most people in this position go ahead and take the final.) Bring your proposed topic and an initial bibliography of five books and/or articles on it to a meeting with your section leader before April 6. It will be due the day of the final.
Texts
At Penn Book Center, 34th and Sansome, 215-222-7600
R. Biale Women and Jewish Law
L. Halaby West of the Jordan : A Novel
A. Roiphe Lovingkindness
A. Wadud Qur'an and Woman
L. Winner Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life
D. Ruttenberg Yentyl's Revenge: The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism
You do not have to purchase books. They are on reserve in Rosengarten in Van Pelt Library. From Franklin, choose "Course Reserves."
Blackboard Articles
Each topic has assigned readings. Your section leaders expect you to have read them for recitation discussion. Articles that are suitable for writing responses are marked with "RP" at the end below.
There are also exam prep articles for each topic, on a separate section. Use them (and only them) for writing your exam essays. You have access all the articles on Blackboard or in Rosengarten reserves. If you want a paper copy of all the readings, borrow the file from them and photocopy.
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.
Lecture Schedule
January 10 and 12 Introduction to the Study of Women and Religion, Eve
Reading for Wednesday:
- 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.
Assignment for next class, Wednesday: Bring in the most misogynist statement you can find from any religious text. Handwritten is fine. Give your source.
Jan 19 Sarah and Hagar in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Matronizing the Bible
Readings are now available on Blackboard:
- 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.
Jan 24 and 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 31 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 7 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 9 "The Shakers" (film)
Feb 14 and 16 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 21 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.
- 1 Corinthians 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. 21. Completed essays are due by 4:30 p.m. Wednesday March 2 to your section 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 23 II Purity and Menstruation
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.
Feb 28 and March 2 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 7-9 Spring break
March 14 IV Marriage and Divorce
Required Readings :
- J. Hauptman, "Relations between the Sexes," in idem., Re-reading the Rabbi: 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 16 "Divorce Iranian Style" (1998, film)
March 21-23 Women, Spirituality, and Religious Ritual
Visits to temple, synagogue, church, mosque this week. For services on campus, consult Rev. Gipson's list of Penn religious organizations @ www.upenn.edu/chaplain/religiousgroups.html. No recitation meetings. Comment in a page or two on the role of women during your visit and turn it in for recitation Mar 30 or Apr 1. (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 28 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.
- 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 30 Hindu Women film
April 4-6 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.
- Lovingkindness (novel). RP.
April 11-13 II Christianity
Reading :
- 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.
- Girl Meets God (memoir). RP.
April 18-20 III Islam
Reading :
Wadud, "Introduction: How Perceptions of Woman Influence Interpretation of the Qur'an" 1-14, Wadud "In the Beginning, Man and Woman Were Equal," Qur'an and Woman, 15-28, "The Qur'anic View of Women in this World," 29-43, and "Rights and Roles of Woman: Some Controversies," 62-93 from Qur'an and Woman (Oxford , 1992).
- S. Shaikh , "Transforming Feminism: Islam, Women and Gender Justice," from O. Safi, ed., Progressive Muslims (Oxford , 2003), 147-62. RP.
- West of the Jordan (novel). RP.
*Final exam essay questions and a list of ID's will be handed out last day of class. We will offer a review session during reading days. I hope that you will organize your thoughts ahead of time, but the exam is not open-book. The Registrar has scheduled our final for Wednesday, May 4, 8:30-10:30.
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