Description: Does religion view women positively? Do certain religious teachings impact the quality of women’s lives and their role and status at home and in society? From a religious viewpoint, how can women and men work together toward change for the betterment of society? This upper-level (intended for experienced students) course examines religious teachings and treatment of women as well as the role of religion in women’s struggle for social change. Topics include analyses of women’s structural and personal oppression; critique of the role of gender, race, class and other diversity issues as they impact religious doctrines; and religious teachings about women and women’s spirituality.
This offering of the course will emphasize attention to women’s history and experience in contemporary American Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist traditions, while paying attention as well to women’s experience, leadership, and involvement in other contemporary American religious traditions. Historical and contemporary traditions will be studied through autobiography, films, arts, cultural studies and religious studies documents.
Competence Statement: Knows features of women’s historical experience of religion as well as women’s contemporary contributions to religious thought and practice; can apply analytic frameworks from feminist scholarship to the study of women and religion; has demonstrated an appreciation for the creativity and diversity of women’s religious expression; recognizes the interlocking dimensions of gender, race, culture, sexual preference, and class in women’s experience in religion and in society; and understands and can articulate areas of ongoing challenge that both men and women face in society and religious institutions, including issues of unequal power, oppression, community building, resilience, and transformation.
Learning Outcomes:
A) To understand the historical framework of American women’s religious experiences, including an understanding of women’s contributions to American religion.
B) To be able to apply analytic frameworks and concepts from feminist scholarship in religious studies over the past thirty years.
C) To gain an appreciation for ethical and social contributions made by particular women in their development of religious innovations, leadership in creating social change, and serving as models of personal transformation.
D) To recognize and respect differences among groups and individuals, including the dimensions of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sexual preference, and nationality, and to understand how these differences can contribute to conflicts between religious groups, or to oppression of classes of people such as women or gay and lesbian people.
E) To understand how women’s spiritual traditions are preserved and passed on through families, through art, through ceremony, through teaching, and through women’s friendship groups.
F) To experience some form of community women’s culture during the period of this class.
Required Texts:
Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion –Christ & Plaskow, Eds.
Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality – Plaskow & Christ, Eds.
Buddhist Women on the Edge: Contemporary Perspectives from the Western Frontier – Marianne Dresser, Ed.
The Religious Imagination of American Women – Mary Farrell Bednarowski
Here is a link to the Word copy of the syllabus: Download file