Course Description
An exploration of biblical and other literature in the first five hundred years of Christianity focused on examining women's participation and leadership.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will have additional readings from both primary and secondary or analytical sources, readings that convey a greater depth and range than expected of undergraduates. Their oral and written work, for example an assigned 20-25 page paper, will evince a higher scholastic rigor, reflection, and synthesis appropriate to graduate learning. Students will be required to integrate the subject matter, theory, and methodology of this course with their graduate research interests and projects.
Athena Title
WOMEN IN EARLY CHRI
Prerequisite
Junior or senior standing or permission of department
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Each student will learn about several interpretive tools that scholars, especially female, have been using to read biblical texts and be tested on this information in a midterm and a final exam. Three two page book reviews and one ten page paper (twenty to twenty-five pages for graduate students) will allow students to explore selected topics in greater depth. By the end of the course students will have gained some mastery of the critical issues pertaining to the gender dynamics in biblical texts and the reading process itself. Communicate Effectively through Writing To strengthen skills in written composition, analysis, and presentation by means of projects such as essays, papers, reports, and examinations. Communicate Effectively through Speech To strengthen skills in oral expression, analysis, style, and interaction by means such as class reports, class discussion, and oral examinations. Computer Literacy To enhance and facilitate computer literacy by the use of word processing, the web, email, and OASIS through research, preparation, and presentation of work such as oral class reports and completion of written assignments. Critical Thinking To foster critical thinking by engaging in activities such as classroom discussion and debate, essay examinations, and oral presentations. Moral Reasoning (Ethics) To assist in the continued development of moral and ethical reasoning and reflection by encouraging creative thinking regarding individual and community concerns and needs, the challenging of prejudices and stereotypes, and examining rational and ethical bases of constructive social interactions.
Topical Outline
I. Introduction to the course; Key terms II. Evaluations of reconstrucions of women's participation in early Christian communities III.Evaluations of the use of prophetic-liberating traditions to read biblical narratives about women IV. Recent reading strategies for studying biblical texts and for examining women's roles in early Christianity