Societies-cultures-religions : Human Questions

Teacher(s)

Burnet Régis;

Language

French

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	confront him/herself in a personal and critical way with the reflection developed during the lectures about the Christian faith.
2	argue his/her position, showing that he/she is conscious of the complexity of the questions at stake, also when confronted with various philosophical and religious traditions.
3	clarify the complex relationship between Christian faith and modernity, paying attention to the different language' levels and to their relevance in the context of the reflection about the meaning of life.

Content

It is rather commonplace to say that the Bible has shaped centuries of culture and creativity. This course invites you to explore the Bible not as a simple religious text, but as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for writers, poets, and artists. We will discover how its stories, characters, and poetry have been ceaselessly reinterpreted, subverted, and reinvented, from Agrippa d'Aubigné to Mahmoud Darwich, through Oscar Wilde and pop music.

Course Outline

a) What is the Bible?
We will begin with a general introduction to the Bible, presenting it as a library of various texts (historical narratives, laws, prophecies, poetry, gospels, letters) written over several centuries. We will discuss its structure (Old and New Testament), its contexts of production, and the major stages of its transmission and canonization, to give you the essential background for the rest of the course.
b) The Bible as Literature
Secondly, we will approach the Bible from a purely literary perspective. We will analyze the different genres that compose it, its narrative techniques, its figures of speech, and the richness of its poetic imagery. This approach will allow us to understand how the biblical text, by its very form, has been able to nurture the imagination of authors and inspire such a literary legacy.
c) Case Studies: Four Biblical Figures and Their Metamorphoses
The core of the course will consist of the analysis of four emblematic figures and their reception in literature and the arts:

• Jezebel: the femme fatale. Based on the narrative from the Books of Kings, we will see how the negative image of Jezebel was constructed, demonized as a foreign queen, a seductress, and an idolater. We will study her transformation into the archetype of the powerful and dangerous woman, from the polemics against Catherine de Medici in d'Aubigné's work to her reuse in popular culture (songs by Sade , Dizzee Rascal , The Rasmus ), including her evocation as a racist trope.
  
• Lazarus: the revenant. The story of the resurrection of Lazarus, told in the Gospel of John, gave rise to a rich theatrical tradition starting in the Middle Ages. We will analyze how modern literature, from the late 19th century onwards, performed a radical reversal of the meaning of this miracle. In the works of authors like Oscar Wilde , W. B. Yeats , or Jean Grosjean , the resurrection is no longer a grace but a tragedy: Lazarus becomes a man torn from the peace of death and unable to regain a foothold in life. This figure would find a particular echo after the experience of the concentration camps, in the so-called "Lazarean" literature of Jean Cayrol.
  
• The Song of Songs: love and desire. This collection of love poems, with its very erotic literal meaning, has always been a subject of debate. We will see how its allegorical reading (the union of God and his people, or of Christ and the Church) coexisted with a secular reading. We will study how poets, from John of the Cross to Albert Cohen and Paul Celan , have used its imagery to express mystical love, carnal passion, but also the violence of History that shatters the union of lovers. We will also see how female authors like Monique Wittig or Toni Morrison have drawn from the Song of Songs to assert a female desire that escapes gender stereotypes.
  
• Judas: the necessary traitor. The absolute figure of the traitor in the Christian tradition , Judas underwent a slow literary rehabilitation from the 18th century onwards. First humanized by poets like Klopstock, who invented political motives for him , he becomes in the works of authors like Nerval , Borges , or Kazantzákis the indispensable accomplice of Jesus, the one without whom the divine plan of Redemption cannot be accomplished. This subversive rereading questions the nature of evil, sacrifice, and salvation.
  

Evaluation methods

A 2-hour written exam (whether for the January, June, or August session). Further details will be provided on Moodle.

Online resources

Moodle LTECO 1220

Bibliography

Les powerpoints du cours seront disponibles sur Moodle et seront présentés avec un syllabus. 

Faculty or entity

> TECO