RST 5134 Feminist Interpretation of the Bible

2nd Term, 2005-6 (9th Jan to 17th April 2006)

HYSG05; Mondays 6:30-8:50 pm

Nancy Tan (Ph.D., Durham)

HYS 405; Tel: 3163-4436

Course Syllabus

This course introduces and equips you how to do feminist biblical interpretation for your communities of faith. In many ways, it is a re-learning experience: realizing the need for FBI, acknowledging the necessity for it, grappling with a change in your worldview, and re-reading the Bible with new focal lens.

Course Objectives

1.  The student will understand and be able to explain

a.  The general historical status of women in the biblical periods

b.  The portrayal of women in the biblical books

c.  The patriarchal nature of the Bible in its context, and its impact on the communities of faith

d.  The urgent and impending need for feminist biblical interpretation within each communities of faith

2.  The student will become sensitive to and be able to discern and appreciate

a.  The presentation of the women in the biblical texts and the consequences thereof

b.  The biblical author’s motivation for each of the portrayals of women in the biblical books

c.  Current interpretations of the biblical texts where woman are being portrayed or not portrayed

d.  Methods of interpretations and theologizing biblical texts in the light of gender issues

3.  The student will be challenged to

a.  Continue to do biblical exegesis with the aim to proffer a scholarly and theologically viable feminist reading of the biblical text

b.  Extend their imaginative capabilities to hope and envision feminist interpretations as lifestyle in their communities of faith

c.  Become more open-minded to accept various interpretative methods for all persons who belong to the communities of faith

Required Texts

Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Wisdom Ways: Introducing Feminist Biblical Interpretation (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2005).

Bible, including the Apocryphal Books.


Course Requirements

1.  40% Essay (Due: 21st April)

Select any woman character found in the biblical books and proffer a feminist interpretation of it. Concerning methodologies, you might want to refer to WW (pp. 195-205). The paper should be around 5,000 words.

2.  20% Worksheets

-  The required text is Wisdom Ways (WW). At the end of every chapter, Fiorenza has a section called ‘Deepening Movement’ and another called ‘Movement Exercise’ (basically the Worksheet). You will also notice that there are some questions found in the ‘Deepening Movement’ which is also found in the Worksheet. They are actually related. ‘Deepening Movement’ helps you to work on the Worksheets. Therefore, you should read the two sections first before doing any writing.

-  What is required:

1.  Please refer to the Handout on WW Assignments.

2.  Hand the Worksheets in type-written form. Submit the relevant piece/s according to the Course Schedule.

3.  If you want to add some more points to consider for the Worksheets, please do so at the end of it. [For this extra effort, bonus points will be awarded.]

4.  There will be slots of 30 minutes discussion on the relevant sections of WW throughout the course (Check Course Schedule).

3.  30% Presentation

Pick a text/book on a biblical woman/women (as outlined in the course schedule) – make a presentation of how feminist scholars have re-interpreted them. Consult the sources in the list of your recommended readings. You may, however, choose one of the essays listed for your reading in the course schedule. (A better choice is an integration of a couple of essays on the related topic). The presentation must bring out the nuance of feminist interpretation of the biblical text, contrary to the accepted/traditional interpretations. The presenters are also to engage the rest of the students to participate in their presentation: the simplest and most direct way is to raise questions for discussion and interaction concerning the topic which has been presented.

Each group MUST discuss the selected topic with the lecturer. Outline of the presentation must be submitted at least one week before presentation. Use the suggested format for outline.

4.  10% Attendance and participation in class.

This applies ONLY for the M.Th. students:

Requirement #2 carries 10%

Requirement #3 carries 25%

Additional Requirement:

15 % Evaluation and Critique Paper (Due 21st April)

Select any of the required readings below, or the other groups’ presentation. It should not exceed 3,000 words.

Course Schedule

Key:

@ Hand in Assignment

Read

9 January
Week 1 /
What is FBI all about?
Course Introduction
16 January
Week 2 / @ / The World of Women in Ancient Israel
How do women live? What do women live for?
Did it really all began with Eve …?
Gen. 1-3; Lev. 15; 18; Deut. 22.13-30; 23.17-18; 24.1-5; 25.5-12
Carol Meyers, ‘Everyday Life: Women in the Period of the Hebrew Bible’, Women’s Bible Commentary, 251-59.
Hand in WW, Introduction.
23 January
Week 3 / [Special Lecture by Athalya Brenner]
Carole R. Fontaine, ‘“Many Devices (Qoheleth 7.23-8.1): Qoheleth, Misogyny and the Malleus Maleficarum’, in A Feminist Companion to Wisdom and Psalms, 137-68.
Brian B. Noonan, ‘Wisdom Literature among the Witchmongers’, in A Feminist Companion to Wisdom and Psalms, 169-74.
30 January / Wishing ALL a Prosperous Chinese New Year!
6 February
Week 4 / @ / The Matriarchs: The Women in Genesis
Gen. 12, 16, 18-23, 34, 38
J. Cheryl Exum, ‘Who’s Afraid of “The Endangered Ancestress”?’ Women in the Hebrew Bible: A Reader, 141-56.
Hand in WW, Chapters I & II.
13 February
Week 5 / Women in the Exodus and Wandering
Women in Moses’ Life
Exod. 1-2; 4.24-26; 15.1-20; Num. 12.
Alice Bach, ‘With a Song in Her Heart: Listening to Scholars Listening for Miriam’, Women in the Hebrew Bible: A Reader, 419-27.
20 February
Week 6 / @ / Women as Slaves and in the Time of War
Exod. 21.2-11; Deut. 20-22
Carolyn Pressler, ‘Wives and Daughters, Bond and Free: Views of Women in the Slave Laws of Exodus 21.2-11’, Gender and Law, 147-72.
Hand in WW, Chapter III.
27 February
Week 7 / Women in the Book of Judges (I)
Judg. 4-5; 11
Gale Yee, ‘By the Hand of a Woman’, Semeia 61 (1993): 99-126.
Adrien Bledstein, ‘Is Judges a Woman’s Satire of Men who Play God?’, Feminist Companion to Judges, 34-54.
6 March
Week 8 / Women in the Book of Judges (II)
Judg. 13-21
Michael Carden, ‘Homophobia and Rape in Sodom and Gibeah’ JSOT 82 (1999), 83-96.
13 March
Week 9 / @ / King David and His Women
1 Sam. 18-19 (Michal); 1 Sam. 25 (Abigail & Ahinoam); 2 Sam. 2:1-4 (the wives); 2 Sam. 3:2-39 (Rizpah); 2 Sam. 6:1-23 (Michal); 2 Sam. 11:1--12:31 (Bathsheba); 2 Sam. 13 (Tamar); 2 Sam. 16:20-23 and 20:3 (concubines); 2 Sam. 21:1-22 (Rizpah); 1 Kgs 1-2 (Abishag and Bathsheba)
Adele Berlin, ‘Characterization in Biblical Narrative: David’s Wives,’ JSOT 23 (1982), 69-85.
Susan Ackerman, ‘The Queen Mother and the Cult in Ancient Israel’, Women in the Hebrew Bible: A Reader, 179-94.
Hand in WW, Chapters IV or V.
20 March
Week 10 / Foreign Women and wives in Kings and Post-exilic Literature
1 Kgs 11.1-13; 18-19; 21; Prov. 1-9; Ezra 9-10; Neh. 13
Tina Pippin, ‘Jezebel Re-vamped’, A Feminist Companion to Samuel and Kings, 196-206.
Tan, 58-71. (Ph.D. thesis – working on publishing)
Gale Yee, ‘The Other Woman in Proverbs’, Poor Banished Children of Eve, 135-58.
27 March
Week 11 / @ / The Good Foreign Women
Ruth; Tamar (Gen. 38); Rahab (Josh. 2; 6)
Ellen van Wolde, ‘Intertextuality: Ruth in Dialogue with Tamar’, A Feminist Companion to Reading the Bible’, 426-51.
Hand in WW, Chapter VI.
3 April
Week 12 / The Adulteress of Yahweh
Hos. 1-3; Ezek. 16; 23
Fokkelien van Dijk-Hemmes, ‘The Metaphorization of Woman in Prophetic Speech’, A Feminist Companion to the Latter Prophets, 244-55.
10 April
Week 13 / Beautiful Women
Esther; Judith; Susanna (Daniel 13)
Sered, Susan, and Samuel Cooper, ‘Sexuality and Social Control’, The Judgment of Susanna, 43-56.
Amy-Jill Levine, ‘Sacrifice and Salvation: Otherness and Domestication in the book of Judith’, A Feminist Companion to Esther, Judith and Susanna, 208-23.
17 April
Week 14 / Women in NT
Heather A. McKay, ‘“Only a Remnant of Them shall be Saved”: Women from the Hebrew Bible in NT Narratives’, A Feminist Companion to the Hebrew Bible in the New Testament, 32-61.
Conclusion
21 April / @ / Due Essay
For M.Th. students only: Due Evaluation and Critique Paper

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