CLASC-339 Early Christian Masculinities

This course investigates the impact of ancient Roman ideologies of masculinity on early Christian ethics and theology. Students will explore the ways in which obsessions with meeting expectations of manhood among the elite in the Roman world affected early Christian writers' definitions of humanity and their imagination of the created world. Readings will include Roman writers such as Juvenal, Tacitus, and Dio Cassius as well as early Christians such as Paul of Tarsus, Tertullian of Carthage, and Clement of Alexandria. Throughout the course, we will apply feminist and queer methodologies in order to interrogate how toxic ideologies of masculinity became embedded in the Christian tradition and how they continue to injure queer and gender-nonconforming people in our contemporary age.

Maximum Enrollment

Seminar (12)

(Seminar.)

Credits

1

Cross Listed Courses

RELST-339, WMGST-339

Prerequisite

At least one class in any of the following: GREEK, LATIN, Classics (CLASC), Religious Studies (RELST), or Women's and Gender Studies (WMGST)