Women and Religion
Dr. Sharon Adams
General Education: Arts & Humanities and Human Diversity – U.S. Perspective
Course Description:
This course examines roles of women and gender in religious traditions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Indigenous Traditions and Feminist New Age spirituality. This course takes an historical and comparative approach, exploring the meaning and self-understanding of gender in religious traditions from ancient times to today.Â
The course explores the existence of matrilineal, goddess-focused cultures and spiritual traditions as they were gradually misplaced by the patriarchal cultures and religions that continue to be the dominant influence on the contemporary role and understanding of women in the major religions and in society in general. We will raise and consider questions such: "Why is the Ultimate or God, in western religions in particular, referred to as male or masculine? What are the implications of the male representation of God for the evaluation of women in both religion and culture? How does the experience of religious women contribute to an awareness of the sacred and the meaning of being human?
