Pain and Punishment in the Hebrew Bible
RELI 311
Spring 2025
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
CJST 311 |
The Hebrew Bible has many graphic depictions of pain and punishment; some inflicted upon the Israelites and many inflicted by the Israelites themselves. Many of the laws of the Hebrew Bible describe the proper ways to inflict punishment and many of those same laws describe the ways in which someone might be absolved of punishment. This course aims to answer the questions of: What role did pain and punishment play in the ancient world? How was the physical experience of either connected to religious experience? In what ways was pain, and often disgust, utilized to either connect or separate someone from the divine? What is the relationship between divinity, power, physicality, and punishment? In asking these questions, this course will demonstrate that, much of the time, spirituality, devotion, and religiousness, need not be divorced from the physical world and need not be considered metaphysical qualities. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS RELI |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (CJST-MN)(RELI-MN)(RELI) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
All Readings will be Available Online
The Jewish Study Bible
Olyan, Saul. RITUAL VIOLENCE IN THE HEBREW BIBLE: NEW PERSPECTIVES (2016)
Olyan, Saul. DISABILITY IN THE HEBREW BIBLE: INTERPRETING MENTAL AND PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES (2008)
Olyan, Saul. RITES AND RANK: HIERARCHY IN BIBLICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CULT (2000)
Lemos, Tracy. VIOLENCE AND PERSONHOOD IN THE ANCIENT ISRAEL AND COMPARATIVE CONTEXTS (2017)
Lemos, Tracy. "With Breath and Bludgeon: Violence, Weaponry, and the Limits of Resistance in Isaiah." (2022)
Feder, Yitzhaq. "Contagion and Cognition: Bodily Experience and the Conceptualization of Pollution (¿um¿ah) in the Hebrew Bible" (2013)
Feder, Yitzhaq. PURITY AND POLLUTION IN THE HEBREW BIBLE: FROM EMBODIED EXPERIENCE TO MORAL METAPHOR (2022)
Feinstein, Eve Levavi. SEXUAL POLLUTION IN THE HEBREW BIBLE (2014)
Berquist, Jon. CONTROLLING CORPOREALITY: THE BODY AND THE HOUSEHOLD IN ANCIENT ISRAEL
Haidt, J., McCauley, C., & Rozin, P. "Individual differences in sensitivity to disgust: A scale sampling seven domains of disgust elicitors. Personality and Individual Differences." (1994)
Hoefling, A., Likowski, K. U., Deutsch, R., Hafner, M., Seibt, B., Muhlberger, A., Strack, F. "When hunger finds no fault with moldy corn: Food deprivation reduces food-related disgust." (2009)
Oaten, M., Stevenson, R. J., & Case, T. I. "Disgust as a disease avoidance mechanism." (2009)
Asad, Talal. "Cruelty and Punishment," in FORMATIONS OF THE SECULAR: CHRISTIANITY, ISLAM, MODERNITY (2003)
Mouton, Alice, Ed. FLESH AND BONES: THE INDIVIDUAL AND HIS BODY IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN BASIN (2020)
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Examinations and Assignments:
3 Reading Responses (1 Page Each)
An In-class Midterm
A Short Presentation (10 minutes)
A Final Paper (12-15 pages) or Project |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course fulfills an "additional course" requirement for the religion major/minor
This course fulfills a requirement for the Jewish and Israel Studies minor |
| Instructor(s): Walker,Tanner Ethan Times: ..T.R.. 01:20PM-02:40PM; Location: FISK101; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 0 | JR major: 7 | | |
| Seats Available: 15 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 4 | JR non-major: 4 | SO: 4 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 1 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 1 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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