Sex and the Bible

Catalog description

This course looks carefully and critically at how concepts of sex, gender, and sexuality are used in the Bible and later biblical interpretation as a fundamental means of shaping and reshaping the interpreter’s world. Students encounter and examine such topics as gender construction, sexual orientation, taboos, sex work, idolatry, family relations, abortion, cross-cultural marriage, slavery and trafficking, erotic literature, and sexual violence, among others. The course also engages modern writing about the construction of sex and sexuality in our look at biblical texts.