IGS/SCT 530
Studies in Identities and Subjectivities – The Book of Genesis: Identity and Otherness
Instructor: Dr. Francisco Pena Fernandez
Course Description:
Known in Jewish circles as Bereshith (“In the beginning”) the Book of Genesis is one of the most influential writings in Western traditions and beyond. It has provided Judaism, Christianity and Islam with their foundational traditions and it has been shaping –inside and outside literature- our way of understanding concepts like origin, identity and also otherness in the past and, in many ways, even now in contemporary and secular societies.
The first redactors of Genesis were the collectors of countless old traditions that circulated freely and orally among the people of Canaan. By collecting and refashioning traditions in a time of crisis and change, the Israelites wondered about their identity and their specific position with their surrounding neighbors.
As a masterpiece of literature, the book of Genesis combines wonderful clarity and psychological depth with utter simplicity. Many of the stories of Genesis have an etiological element, providing answers to questions that people of its time asked about life and about the world in which they lived. In its primeval history and also in its patriarchal stories, this book addresses the great problems of humanity: creation and nature, fate and suffering, man and woman, fraternal quarrels, hidden mysteries of the Divinity, domestic tensions, love and hatred, etc. Legend and poetry communicate in Genesis a rich experience of life.
The images of “the beginning” formulated in Genesis modulate further images of catastrophic ends in apocalyptic literature. A few centuries later, in modern science fiction the same main crucial questions are again and again reformulated following similar patterns and symbols to answer “old” or completely new questions.
In this graduate course we will examine the history and contexts of the writing of the book of Genesis and its subsequent influence on religious cosmogonies, cultures and, mainly, literatures.
Method of Assessment
Weekly Journal: (Every week the students must write a 1-2 page, double-spaced, 300-500 words, journal entry. For each journal entry I will give the students specific questions pertaining to certain texts and they will have secondary support from the class notes and also from secondary readings) 30%
Class Participation: 10%
Class Presentation: (2x15 minutes) 20%
Term Paper: (25-30 pages) 40%Readings
Alter, Robert. Genesis. New York: Norton and Company, Inc, 1996.
Butler, Octavia. Dawn: Xenogenesis. New York: Warner Books, c1987.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York: Dover Publications, 1991.Course Package
Bloom, Harold. The Book of J. New York: Grove Wendenfeld, 1990.
Cross, Frank M. Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1973.
Charlesworth, James H. The Old Testament Pseudoepigrapha. Doubleday, 1995.
The Old Testament Pseudoepigrapha and the New Testament. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1998.
George, A. R. The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Gottlieb Zornberg, Avivah. The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis. New York: Doubleday, 1995.
Hendel, Ronald S. The epic of the patriarch: the Jacob cycle and the narrative traditions of Canaan and Israel. Atlanta, Ga.: Scholar Press, 1987.
Frye, Northop. The Great Code. The Bible and Literature. Penguin Canada: Toronto, 2007.
Gray, John. Near Eastern Mythology. Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine. New York: Hamlyn, 1969.
The Holy Bible. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Kristeva, Julia. Strangers to Ourselves. Trans. By Leon Roudez. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991.
Martin, Michael. “Meditations on Blade Runner” Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 17 no 1-2 2005, p 105-122.
Rainer, Albertz. A History of Israelite Religion in the Old Testament Period. Volume I. From the Beginnings to the End of the Monarchy. London: SCM Press Ltd., 1994.
Ratzinger, Cardinal Joseph. (now Pope Benedict XVI). In the Beginning. Edinburgh, 1995.
Rendsburg, Gary A. The Redaction of Genesis. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1986.
Schwartz, Regina M. The Curse of Cain. The Violent Legacy of Monotheism. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1997.
Scott, Ridley. Blade Runner. 1982.
Tsoffar, Ruth. “The Trauma of Otherness and Hunger: Ruth and Lot´s Daughters”. Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal 5: 1 (Winter 2008).
Course Outline
Week 1. Introduction to Biblical literature. The writings of the book of Genesis.
Alter, Robert. Genesis
Selections from: The Redaction of Genesis
Selections from: The Book of J
Week 2. Genesis in its context. Religion, kingship and literature.
Alter, Robert. Genesis
Selections from: The epic of the patriarch.
Selections from: A History of Israelite Religion in the
Old Testament Period.
Week 3. Genesis and neighbors. Israel, Identity and Near Eastern Mythology.
Alter, Robert. Genesis (Review: Chapters 1 to 25)
Selections from: The Curse of Cain
Selections from: Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic:
Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel.
Week 4. Genesis and neighbors II. Israel, Identity and the representation of the Other in Genesis.
Alter, Robert. Genesis (Review: Chapters
26-36)
Selections from: The Curse of Cain
Selections from: A History of Israelite
Religion in the Old Testament Period
Selections from: The Book of J
Week 5. Genesis, apocalyptic literature and otherness. Pseudoepigraphic expansions of Genesis in the Hellenistic and Roman period.
Alter, Robert. Genesis. (Review:
Introduction and Chapters 37-49)
Selections from: The Old Testament Pseudoepigrapha:
The book of Adam and Eve;
The book of Jubilees; The book of Enoch.
(Class Presentations)
Selections from: Holy Bible. New Revised Standard
Version: Book of Revelations.
Week 6. Interpretations of Genesis. Rereading Genesis in Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Selections from: The Old Testament
Pseudoepigrapha and the New Testament
Rogerson, “Creation in Jewish, Christian and Islamic
interpretation”.
Tamburr, Karl. “Second Adam”. A Dictionary of
Biblical Tradition in English Literature.
Week 7. Interpretations of Genesis II. Rereading Genesis in Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Selections from: The Beginning of Desire: Reflections
on Genesis.
Selections from: The Great Code.
Week 8. Postmodern theories about Alterity and Identity and New Readings of Genesis
Selections from: Handbook for Postmodern Biblical Interpretation (Class Presentations)
R. Crumb. “Genesis”
Week 9. Genesis and the Secular Imagination I. Genesis in the Romantic and Gothic Literature
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde.
Selections from: Strangers to Ourselves.
Week 10. Genesis and the Secular Imagination II. Genesis, Otherness and Science Fiction
Movie: Blade Runner
Martin, Michael. “Meditations on Blade Runner”
Week 11. Genesis and the Secular Imagination III. Genesis, Gender and Science Fiction
Butler, Octavia. Dawn: Xenogenesis.
Tsoffar, Ruth. “The Trauma of Otherness
and Hunger: Ruth and Lot´s Daughters”
Week 12. Conclusion and Group Presentations
Last reviewed 
7/14/2009 3:07:05 PM
