Constructing the Human: Humans and Animals in the Hebrew Bible
RELI 202
Spring 2023
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
CJST 202, ENVS 202 |
How do we define "humanness" and what assumptions do we make about our own distinctions between "humans" and "animals" through this definition? This course will look at the process of constructing the human category in the ancient world and Hebrew Bible and then compare that process to our own modern conceptions of humanness. In what ways are they similar and in what ways are they different? How can ancient examples of the human category inform our own ethical understandings of what it means to be human? |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS RELI |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (ENVS-MN)(ENVS) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Selected readings from:
M. Van De Mieroop, A HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST CA. 3000-323 BC
Beate Pongratz-Leisten "All the King's Men: Authority, Kingship, and the Rise of the Elites in Assyria," in EXPERIENCING POWER, GENERATING AUTHORITY: COSMOS, POLITICS, AND THE IDEOLOGY OF KINGSHIP IN ANCIENT EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA
Rob Boddice, "The End of Anthropocentrism," in ANTHROPOCENTRISM: HUMAN, ANIMALS, ENVIRONMENTS
Margo DeMello, ANIMALS AND SOCIETY: AN INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN-ANIMAL STUDIES
Matthew Calarco, THINKING THROUGH ANIMALS
Peter Singer, ANIMAL LIBERATION
Adam Weitzenfeld and Melanie Joy, "An Overview of Anthropocentrism, Humanism, and Speciesism in Critical Animal Theory," in DEFINING CRITICAL ANIMAL STUDIES
T. Asad, FORMATIONS OF THE SECULAR
Derrida, "The Animal that I therefore Am"
Giorgio Agamben, THE OPEN: MAN AND ANIMAL
Henri Lefebvre, THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE
Theodore Hiebert, THE YAHWIST'S LANDSCAPE: NATURE AND RELIGION IN EARLY ISRAEL
Moshe Weinfeld
Saul Olyan, "Failed Friendships," in FRIENDSHIP IN THE HEBREW BIBLE
Delbert R. Hillers, "Treaty Curses and Old Testament Prophets," in POETS BEFORE HOMER: COLLECTED ESSAYS ON ANCIENT LITERATURE
Baruch A. Levine, "Farewell to the Ancient Near East: Evaluating Biblical References to Ownership of Land in Comparative Perspective," in IN PURSUIT OF MEANING: COLLECTED STUDIES OF BARUCH A. LEVINE
Brian Doak, CONSIDER LEVIATHAN
Kenneth C. Way, "Animals in the Prophetic World: Literary Reflections on Numbers 22 and 1 Kings 13," JSOT 34/1
Brent Strawn, WHAT IS STRONGER THAN A LION
Pauline Albenda, "Assyrian Royal Hunts: Antlered and Horned Animals from Distant Lands," in BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN SCHOOLS OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH 349
Michael B. Dick, "The Neo-Assyrian Lion Hunt and Yahweh's Answer to Job," JBL 125/2
Donna Haraway, A CYBORG MANIFESTO
Tracy Lemos, "Dogs Beneath the Tables of Men" in VIOLENCE AND PERSONHOOD IN ANCIENT ISRAEL AND COMPARATIVE CONTEXTS
Saul Olyan, "Jehoiakim's Dehumanizing Interment as a Ritual Act of Reclassification"
Curated Primary Texts from the Hebrew Bible and ancient West Asia
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Examinations and Assignments:
1 page Reading Responses every other week
A Midterm Paper (6-7 pages)
A Final paper (12-13 pages) |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course satisfies the "Historical Tradition" and "Thematic Approach" requirement for the Religion major/minor |
| Instructor(s): Walker,Tanner Ethan Times: .M.W... 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: ZLKA202; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 0 | JR major: 7 | | |
| Seats Available: 7 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 0 | JR non-major: 5 | SO: 7 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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