Ezraneh: Socreltransformation

Catalog description

Taught by PSR. This seminar course aims at a fuller understanding of Judean/Jewish social and religious transformations in the Book(s) of Ezra-Nehemiah. We will be approaching this topic through the critical lenses of Postcolonial, Queer, and Minoritized Biblical criticism. The temporal focus will be on the Exilic period-early post Exilic periods, or the Babylonian-Persian periods: 586-333 BCE. Geographic focus will be on the southern Levant, with comparative look at the province of Judah/Yehud in its complicated relationships with the Persian empire. Identities and ethnicities under Empire will be explored in relationship to questions of diaspora, exile, in-group/out-group, and proximate/distant others. Course requirements include presentations on selected secondary readings, class discussions, and a final research paper, sermon, or motivational speech on a thematically related topic. Prerequisite: any introduction to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament .