1. The Relationship between Religion, Gender, and Society

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we introduce the relationship between religion, gender and society, focusing in particular on (i) the discourse around gender as a social construct (iii) changing views on sexuality in religion and society (iii) the interrelationship between social constructs in society with religion and human identity.

Course

In this course, Dr Nicole Graham (University of Kent) explores the relationship between gender and society in religious thought. In the first module, we consider the relationship between religion, gender and society with special attention to the influence of feminism. In the second module, we examine the history around feminism and changing roles of gender. In the third module, we look at the relationship between feminism, Christianity and secularism, both historically and within contemporary society. In the fourth module, we look at biblical teaching on gender roles in the family and society, before turning our attention to Christian responses to secular views on gender roles in the fifth module. In the sixth and final module, we explore the emergence of intersectionality, and its significance to understand the interrelations between social structures and religious life.

Lecturer

Dr Nicole Graham is an associate lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Kent. Her research interests include humour and religion, the body, ethics, and feminism. She has recently published “Laughing With ’Horrible’ People: Reaffirming Ethical Boundaries Through Laughter”, in Ethics in Comedy: Essays on Crossing the Line (2020), and Opponent or Advocate?: Exploring Clement of Alexandria’s Attitude(s) Towards Laughter”, in Humour in the Beginning: Cultural Interaction of Laughter and the Comic in the First Phase of Asian religions, Christianity and Islam (2020).