What are the Ten Commandments? Why are there three versions in the Bible? Why are they displayed on the U.S. Supreme Court building, when the Supreme Court has blocked their public display in multiple high profile cases? This class surveys the origin and historical meanings of one of the Bible's most iconic and frequently cited texts: the Ten Commandments (AKA the "Decalogue," an English term that comes from Greek and means "Ten Laws"). The heart of the class is a ten-week comparative study of major historical interpretations of each of the ten laws. Interpretations that we will consider include ancient writers, Medieval theologians, Catholic and Protestant theologians and Church documents. We will consider how the Ten Commandments have been interpreted from a variety of perspectives, including historical-critical, systematic-constructive, in legal theory, and from critical liberationist perspectives, including feminist, Black, queer, and post-colonial. Students will be evaluated on team research and presentation assignments, and on three brief research/reflection essays.
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