2015-2016 Catalog

WGS 205 Love and Sex in Biblical Texts

This course explores biblical ideas, values, and practices concerning sexuality and love. The problems of marriage and celibacy, on the one hand, and the challenges of infertility, adultery, prostitution, incest, and rape, on the other, occupy center stage. Moreover, the language of profane love regularly expresses sacred passion, while biblical law focuses on sexual organs and intercourse. Through attention to gender construction and relationships, the course exposes a central element of religious identity in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.

Instructor

Cohn