RLTS 730 / REL 360P:

PSALMS: TEXT AND COUNTERTEXT

 

 
 
 
Emory University
Max.: 18; Writing requirement: Yes
Professor David R. Blumenthal  reldrb@emory.edu
W 7:30 - 10 
at professor's home

Content:

This course will consist of a close reading of four psalms which deal with the definition of happiness (128), national anger (44), personal rage (109), and spiritual healing (27). This is the "text." The course will also involve readings in deconstruction, depth psychology, and feminism. These constitute the "countertext." We will explore how the text and the countertext interact using an unpublished manuscript prepared by the professor as well as the students.

Texts:

  • xerox of manuscript will be distributed
  • Brueggemann, W., The Message of Psalms , Augsburg, 1984.
  • Derrida, J., Positions, transl. A. Bass, Chicago, 1981.
  • Foucault, M., Power/Knowledge, transl. C. Gordon, Pantheon, 1980.
  • Gilligan, C., In a Different Voice, Harvard, 1982.
  • Keller, C., From a Broken Web, Beacon, 1986.
  • Miller, A., For Your Own Good, Farrar, Straus, 1983.
  • Saliers, D., The Soul in Paraphrase, Seabury, 1980.
  • Wiesel, E., The Trial of God, Schocken, 1986.

Recommended Reading:

  • Des Pres, T., The Survivor, current edition.
  • Freud, S., The Future of an Illusion, current edition.
  • Jung, C., Answer to Job, Princeton, 1958/1973.
  • Miller, A., The Drama of the Gifted Child, Basic Books, 1981.
  • Wiesel, E., NIght, current edition.
  • Gil, E., Treatment of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse, Launch, 1988

Particulars:

Permission of the instructor required. Students will be expected to prepare and participate. Grading will be based upon class participation and one final paper, written in conversation with the instructor.

SYLLABUS

Introduction

Jan. 17: Why am I teaching this course? Why are you taking it?

Saliers (both books).

Countertexts

Jan. 24: Foucault, Power / Knowledge .

Jan. 31: Derrida, Positions ; a xeroxed essay.

Feb. 7: Taylor, Erring ; my review in xerox.

Feb. 14: Gilligan, In Another Voice and Keller, From a Broken Web .

The Texts

Feb. 21 and 28: "Intimations" and Psalm 128.

Mar. 7 and 21: Psalm 44 with Wiesel and Des Pres.

(Mar. 14: recess)

Mar. 28 and April 4: Psalm 109 with Jung and The Trial of God

April11(reschedule) and April 18: Psalm 27 with Miller and Gil.

Conclusion

April 25: "Afterthoughts" with Brueggemann.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

Bibliography

(The books with asterisk are on reserve.)

  • *Benjamin, J., The Bonds of Love, Pantheon, 1988, 11-28, 85-131.
  • Bloom, H., Kabbalah and Criticism, Seabury, 1975, 93-126.
  • Brueggemann, W., The Message of Psalms , Augsburg, 1984.
  • Derrida, J., Positions, transl. A. Bass, Chicago, 1981.
  • *Derrida, J., Writing and Difference, transl. A. Bass, Chicago, 1978,180-93, 224-30, 294-300.
  • Des Pres, T., The Survivor, current edition.
  • Foucault, M., Power/Knowledge, transl. C. Gordon, Pantheon, 1980, 78- 108,109-33, 146-65.
  • *Fraser, S., In My Father's House, Ticknor and Fields, 1988.
  • *Freud, S., The Future of an Illusion, current edition.
  • *Freud, S., "The Uncanny," (xerox).
  • *Gil, E., Treatment of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse , Launch Press, 1988.
  • Gilligan, C., In a Different Voice, Harvard, 1982.
  • *Jung, C., Answer to Job, Princeton, 1958/1973, beginning.
  • Keller, C., From a Broken Web, Beacon, 1986.
  • *Lemert, C. and G. Gillian, Michel Foucault: Theory on Transgression, Columbia, 1982, 1-28, 41-56, 60-84, 93ff.
  • Lindbeck, G., The Nature of Doctrine, Westminster, 1984.
  • Miller A., For Your Own Good, Farrar, Straus, 1983.
  • Miller, A., The Drama of the Gifted Child, Basic Books, 1981.
  • Oliner, S., The Altruistic Personality, Free Press, 1988, 249-60.
  • Post, S., "The Inadequacy of Selflessness," JAAR, 56/2, 213-28.
  • Ricoeur, P., Freud and Philosophy, trans. D. Savage, Yale, 163-77, 543-51.
  • *Saliers, D., The Soul in Paraphrase, Seabury, 1980.
  • *Saliers, D., Worship and Spirituality, Westminster, 1984.
  • *Taylor, M., Erring, Chicago, 1984; with my review, (xerox).
  • Wiesel, E., Night, current edition.
  • Wiesel, E., The Trial of God, Schocken, 1986.
  • Wolstein, B., Freedom to Experience, Grune and Stratton, 1964.

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