• Transgender: A Useful Category of Biblical Analysis?

    Author(s):
    Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies (view group) , Jane Nichols, Rachel Stuart
    Date:
    2020
    Group(s):
    Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies
    Subject(s):
    Postcolonialism, Hermeneutics, Gay and lesbian studies, Queer theory
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Gender, LGBTQ Studies, Biblical studies
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/ak2n-9z27
    Abstract:
    This paper revolves around issues of anachronism and identity in moving toward a transgender hermeneutic of interpretation. Putting Joan W. Scott’s work on gender as a category of historical analysis in conversation with María Lugones’ and Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyèwùmí’s discussions of gender and coloniality, the paper proposes the terminology of “gendered category” in order to resist colonialist assumptions inherent within the term “gender” and allow for more possibilities of analysis. With that grounding, the paper turns to an interpretation of the Jacob narratives in Genesis 25 and 27, arguing that the status of firstborn son (bəkōr) in the ancient Near East can be productively understood as a gendered category. It does not argue that Jacob is transgender in the sense of the modern identity marker, but rather that Jacob’s navigation and crossing of the gendered categories of his day carries certain compelling parallels to the ways in which transgender people today experience their identity across prescribed categories.
    Notes:
    Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies 1.2 (Spring 2020), pages 1-24
    Metadata:
    xml
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    4 years ago
    License:
    Attribution-NonCommercial
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