Full course description
Kenneth W. Phifer is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Chicago Divinity School. He has been a Unitarian Universalist minister for half a century and is minister emeritus of the Ann Arbor UU Congregation.
Among the many ways in which gender roles have been shaped in the 21st century are the portraits of women (and men) in the Jewish and Christian Bibles, and the interpretations that Judaism and Christianity, as well as secular society, have put on these women (and men). Too often these interpretations of women have been negative and harmful. A more careful reading of the texts, as many scholars in the last half century have been doing, reveals much more positive images of Biblical women. There is courage, intelligence, craftiness, and common sense practicality in abundance. This lecture highlights some of these feisty women who might serve as models for the 21st century woman.
Among the many ways in which gender roles have been shaped in the 21st century are the portraits of women (and men) in the Jewish and Christian Bibles, and the interpretations that Judaism and Christianity, as well as secular society, have put on these women (and men). Too often these interpretations of women have been negative and harmful. A more careful reading of the texts, as many scholars in the last half century have been doing, reveals much more positive images of Biblical women. There is courage, intelligence, craftiness, and common sense practicality in abundance. This lecture highlights some of these feisty women who might serve as models for the 21st century woman.