This event, led by and featuring the experts in feminist biblical reception, examines the way biblical narratives about women are reinterpreted in contemporary media. Popular media like television (The Chosen), film (Mary Magdalene) and contemporary art (the work of Nalini Malani), include representations of biblical women which are routinely touted as ‘feminist’. But in these media patriarchal values and judgements of women’s roles in society ultimately still dominate. These media still follow traditional ideas about gender identities in which cannot be separated from the roles of homemaker, helpmeet, mother, and whore. Our symposium, and its outputs, will be the first of its kind in the Netherlands to critically engage with this issue, bringing fresh feminist perspectives to the fore.
This symposium is supported by the Nijmegen Feminism and Religion Fund.
Participants
Siobhán Jolley (Lecturer in Christian Studies, University of Manchester, UK): Feminist Afterlives: Methodologies and Considerations
Holly Morse (Senior Lecturer in Bible, Gender and Culture, University of Manchester, UK): Eve: The Fantasy and the Fear
Alexiana Fry (Postdoctoral researcher, Copenhagen University, Denmark): Rose-Tinted Patriarchy? Esther and Vashti’s Feminist Mythological Retelling in The Book of V
Mariecke van den Berg (Professor Religie, Gender en Seksualiteit, Vrije Universiteit/Radboud, NL): "We need to move beyond words": Gender, blasphemy, idolatry and iconoclash in responses to Asherah's Return
Tom de Bruin (Assistant Professor New Testament and Early Judaism, Radboud University, Netherlands) : “Liberated” Women among Fans of The Chosen
Laura Copier (Assistant Professor Media and Performance, Utrecht University, NL): Loving Your Pain: Stigmata and Visual Markers of Contemporary Televisual Trans Martyrs
Meredith Warren (Senior Lecturer, Biblical and Religious Studies, University of Sheffield, UK): Antisemitism in Netflix's Mary (2024)
Caroline Vander Stichele (Professor Early Christianity, Tilburg University, NL): Ave Maria: Climate Madonna’s from the Netherlands and Flanders