Instructor -  Dr. Annette Y. Reed
Office hours - Wednesdays, 13:30-14:30, or by appointment
University Hall 110; 905-525-9140 ext. 24597

Teaching Assistant - Wayne Baxter
Office hours - Thursdays, 13:30-15:00, or by appointment
University Hall B107

In this course, we will consider images of women in the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and related literature from the biblical period ("apocrypha," "pseudepigrapha"), exploring the range of roles that women play within biblical narratives (as wives and mothers; as heroes and villains; as warriors, queens, and prophets), the variety of metaphorical/symbolic uses of femininity in biblical traditions, and legal and ethical precepts related to the status of women in ancient Israel, early Judaism, the Jesus Movement, and early Christianity. We will ask what these ancient, literary representations of women and femininity might tell us about the experiences of "real" women and men in their authors' time, but we will also see how biblical stories about women have been reinterpreted according to the values of different times and cultures, and we will discuss the ways in which biblical traditions about women may have impacted the understanding of gender in Western culture, past and present. The themes of women and gender will simultaneously serve as a focus for a survey of biblical literature and history more broadly, pursued with a special concern for the different social and cultural contexts that shaped the canonical literature of Judaism and Christianity. Accordingly, no previous background in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament is assumed or required.

Course Requirements

Class participation and attendance: 10%

Two short-answer quizzes: 20%

Two brief papers (3-5 pp.): 30%

Final exam: 40%

Required Books

There are two required books, which are available for purchase at Titles and on reserve at Mills library:

Tikva Frymer-Kensy, Reading the Women of the Bible: A New Interpretation of their Stories (Schocken Books, 2002).

Ross Kraemer and Mary Rose D’Angelo, eds., Women and Christian Origins (Oxford University Press, 1999).

Other required readings -- such as selections from biblical texts and other ancient sources -- are accessible from this website, from which the assigned passages can be read and printed out.

Schedule of Assignments

5 September - Introduction: What is “The Bible,” and what can we learn from the academic study of biblical women?

10 September to 10 October - Women in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel - Detailed schedule and links to on-line Sources

15 to 24 October - Women in Second Temple Judaism - Detailed schedule and links to on-line Sources

29 October to 26 November, Women in the New Testament and Early Church - Detailed schedule and links to on-line Sources

28 November – Concluding discussions & exam review

Full, printable syllabus ~ PDF (for viewing with Adobe Reader/Acrobat [download free]) or RTF (for viewing with MS-Word, Word Perfect, etc.)

Bibles in English translation

Students are not required to purchase a bible for this course, since assigned passages from the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, as well as "apocryphal"/deutero-canonical books and other ancient sources, can be printed from the course website (see links above). There are also a wide variety of bible translations available on-line for browsing and searching. For this course, students are encouraged to use the following:

Revised Standard Version (RSV): Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, "apocryphal"/Deuterocanonical Books, New Testament

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV): Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, "apocryphal"/Deuterocanonical Books, New Testament

Jewish Publication Society (JPS): Hebrew Bible

Student who are interested in further studies in biblical traditions, Judaism, and/or Christianity may wish to purchase a Study Bible; these handy volumes contain non-denominational English translations (i.e., RSV or NRSV) of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, “apocryphal”/deutero-canonical books, and New Testament, together with scholarly commentary and introductory essays. Copies of the HarperCollins Study Bible are available for optional purchase at Titles. The Oxford Study Bible with Apocrypha is also recommended. Multiple copies of both books can be found in the library, as well.

Other Resources

A recommended but optional book, which will be available for purchase at Titles and placed on reserve at Mills library, is

Carol Meyers, et al, eds., Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, and the New Testament (Eerdmans, 2000).

Links to electronic resources, together with copies of handouts and other course materials, can be accessed here.

Statement on Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty consists of misrepresentation by deception or by other fraudulent means and can result in serious consequences, e.g. the grade of zero on an assignment, loss of credit with a notion on the transcript (notation reads: "Grade of F assigned for academic dishonesty"), and/or suspension or expulsion from the university.

It is your responsibility to understand what constitutes academic dishonesty. For information on the various kinds of academic dishonesty please refer to the Academic Integrity Policy, specifically Appendix 3.

The following illustrates only three forms of academic dishonesty:

Plagiarism, e.g. the submission of work that is not one's own or for which other credit has been obtained.

Improper collaboration in group work.

Copying or using unauthorized aids in tests and examinations.