Spring 2020  |  RELS 3206 Section 001: Sex, Murder, and Bodily Discharges: Purity and Pollution in the Ancient World (55922)

Instructor(s)
Class Component:
Discussion
Credits:
3 Credits
Grading Basis:
Student Option No Audit
Instructor Consent:
No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:
In Person Term Based
Meets With:
ANTH 3206 Section 001
CNES 3206 Section 001
JWST 3206 Section 001
Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
 
01/21/2020 - 05/04/2020
Tue, Thu 01:00PM - 02:15PM
UMTC, East Bank
Kolthoff Hall 138
Enrollment Status:
Open (2 of 5 seats filled)
Also Offered:
Course Catalog Description:
Dirt is dangerous" wrote Mary Douglas more than 50 years ago in her groundbreaking study, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concept of Pollution and Taboo. Her work has been influential in ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean studies when dealing with issues of sacred/profane, purity/pollution, and ritual sacrifice and purification. Douglas' work provides a framework within which to understand ancients' thinking about these concepts that range from the sacredness of space and of bodies to perceived pollutions caused by bodily leakage or liminal stages of life and death. In this course, we will examine Douglas' theory in light of ancient evidence, with special attention to ancient Israelite literature (the Tanakh or Old Testament) and ancient Jewish literature (the Dead Sea Scrolls), but we will also analyze other ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean examples of purity and pollution (from epigraphical and documentary evidence).
Class Description:
Student may contact the instructor or department for information.
Textbooks:
https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/55922/1203
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
22 October 2019

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