Time: Monday and Wednesday 1:30 - 2:45 pm (13:30-14:45)
Location: Sweeney Hall 240
Gender differences and human sexual expression have been perceived as significant in almost all religious systems. However, the meanings assigned to gender and sexuality have differed greatly from one religion to another. In the contemporary world, doctrines concerned with gender and sexuality are being challenged and debated in unprecedented ways. Furthermore, sexual and gender rebels are critiquing old religions and creating their own religions. Gender and sexuality have assumed an unprecedented prominence in the academic study of religion as well.
In this class we will examine women's spiritual power and religious disempowerment from multiple perspectives. We will study how human women have used gender to relate to the gods and goddesses of their traditions. The religious and spiritual creativity of women, working under multiple oppressions, will be considered in its political and cultural contexts. Feminist voices, past and present, from within and without institutional religious settings, will enhance the complexities of our explorations.
We will also consider how sexuality is a central area of religious attention, past and present. The variety of religious responses to same-sex love will be examined in particular.
Catalog Description: Women's roles and gendered categories within diverse religions. Feminist critiques, reforms, and creations of religious institutions. The political and feminist dimensions of women's religious experience. Understanding the roles of sexuality in religion.
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