A private all-female liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, is offering students the opportunity to learn about “the social construction of gender … in the biblical world” with a religion course titled “Queer Bible.”
Wellesley College — which boasts former first lady Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, and journalist Diane Sawyer among its alumna — describes the 100-level course as “[a]n introduction to the Bible at the intersection of queer theory, biblical interpretation, and the historical study of the ancient Middle East.”
The course is classified under its “Jewish Studies Courses,” according to the school’s website.
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“Through an examination of queer readings of the biblical canon and the canon of contemporary queer theory, the class explores the social construction of gender and examines how people in the biblical world and ancient Middle East maintained and contested gender roles,” the course description reads.
The description adds that students will also explore “not only the complex interaction between the categories of gender and sexual orientation, but also how contemporary expectations about ‘biological sex,’ patriarchal structures, and the biblical world impede our capacity to understand the biblical text, explore the experiential varieties of gender in the ancient world, and appreciate the inherent queerness of gender.”
The course is taught by Eric Jarrard, who serves assistant professor of religious studies and obtained his doctorate in Hebrew Bible from Harvard University, according to his bio page.
C.J. Doyle, who serves as the executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, described the course and its approach to biblical study as an “ideological cudgel,” according to The College Fix.
“Queer theory in Biblical studies will remain what is — an ideological cudgel used in the culture war — rather than a reputable school of scholarly thought,” he told the outlet.
A related seminar Jarrard offers is called “Decolonizing the Bible,” which “considers the difficult paradox of the Bible as both a tool for colonization and decolonization.”
According to the course description, the seminar “will engage post-colonial theory to interrogate the biblical text as a record of interaction with the various empires of the ancient Middle East, North Africa, and Mediterranean.”
The course then moves on to “interrogate the Bible as a tool of empire and the European and colonial agenda, with a focus primarily on British, French, and Spanish despoliation of Africa, the Middle East, and Central America.”
“Finally, we will explore the Bible as a tool for decolonization by engaging biblical interpretation by marginalized groups (womanist, mujerista, indigenous, and queer approaches). Our goal is to investigate the role of the Bible as a source of both harm and healing in the history of the world,” the description adds.
Wellesley was founded in 1875 by Christians who declared the school nondenominational, which is “an act that paved the way for religious inclusivism — and, later, pluralism,” according to the Rev. Victor H. Kazanjian Jr., who previously served as dean of intercultural education and religious and spiritual life at Wellesley.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
