Courses for Spring 2024

	Title	Instructors	Description	Cross listings	Fulfills	Registration notes	Syllabus	Syllabus URL
RELS 0003-401	History, Culture, and Religion in Early India		This course surveys the culture, religion and history of India from 2500 BCE to 1200 CE. The course examines the major cultural, religious and social factors that shaped the course of early Indian history. The following themes will be covered: the rise and fall of Harappan civilization, the "Aryan Invasion" and Vedic India, the rise of cities, states and the religions of Buddhism and Jainism, the historical context of the growth of classical Hinduism, including the Mahabharata, Ramayana and the development of the theistic temple cults of Saivism and Vaisnavism, processes of medieval agrarian expansion and cultic incorporation as well as the spread of early Indian cultural ideas in Southeast Asia. In addition to assigned secondary readings students will read select primary sources on the history of religion and culture of early India, including Vedic and Buddhist texts, Puranas and medieval temple inscriptions. Major objectives of the course will be to draw attention to India's early cultural and religious past and to assess contemporary concerns and ideologies in influencing our understanding and representation of that past.	HIST0755401, SAST0003401	Cross Cultural Analysis History & Tradition Sector
RELS 0006-401	Hindu Mythology	Deven Patel	Premodern India produced some of the world's greatest myths and stories: tales of gods, goddesses, heroes, princesses, kings and lovers that continue to capture the imaginations of millions of readers and hearers. In this course, we will look closely at some of these stories especially as found in Purana-s, great compendia composed in Sanskrit, including the chief stories of the central gods of Hinduism: Visnu, Siva, and the Goddess. We will also consider the relationship between these texts and the earlier myths of the Vedas and the Indian Epics, the diversity of the narrative and mythic materials within and across different texts, and the re-imagining of these stories in the modern world.	COML0006401, SAST0006401	Arts & Letters Sector Cross Cultural Analysis
RELS 0080-001	Religion and Sports	Megan E Robb	Professional football player Tim Tebow publicly kneels in prayer before almost every game. Elite runner Mo Farah rescheduled his Ramadan fast in 2011 when the Muslim month of fasting coincided with the world championships. What happens when religion and sports meet? Can a sport really be a religion? This course will teach students how to think about sports as ritual that brings people together, divides them, and gives athletes the power to remake themselves through the way they use and talk about their bodies. We will first look at the ceremonial and ritual aspects of sports from the view of the spectator or fan, considering the question of whether sports teams are totems-- symbols of greater entities that communities gather around for identity and unity. Then we will look at the ritual aspect of sport from the viewpoint of the athlete, considering the ways that athletes use their bodies in sports to foster community and even spirituality. There will be a secondary focus on raising ethical questions through a discussion of case studies based on real events. Issues of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, age and disability will be prominently featured. There will be guest speakers- athletic and academic and at least one class visit to a sporting event. Sports discussed include but are not limited to American Football, Cricket, Futbo (Soccier), Lacrosse, Rowing, Basketball and Track & Field.					https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202410&c=RELS0080001
RELS 0080-201	Religion and Sports	Megan E Robb	Professional football player Tim Tebow publicly kneels in prayer before almost every game. Elite runner Mo Farah rescheduled his Ramadan fast in 2011 when the Muslim month of fasting coincided with the world championships. What happens when religion and sports meet? Can a sport really be a religion? This course will teach students how to think about sports as ritual that brings people together, divides them, and gives athletes the power to remake themselves through the way they use and talk about their bodies. We will first look at the ceremonial and ritual aspects of sports from the view of the spectator or fan, considering the question of whether sports teams are totems-- symbols of greater entities that communities gather around for identity and unity. Then we will look at the ritual aspect of sport from the viewpoint of the athlete, considering the ways that athletes use their bodies in sports to foster community and even spirituality. There will be a secondary focus on raising ethical questions through a discussion of case studies based on real events. Issues of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, age and disability will be prominently featured. There will be guest speakers- athletic and academic and at least one class visit to a sporting event. Sports discussed include but are not limited to American Football, Cricket, Futbo (Soccier), Lacrosse, Rowing, Basketball and Track & Field.					https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202410&c=RELS0080201
RELS 0080-202	Religion and Sports	Megan E Robb	Professional football player Tim Tebow publicly kneels in prayer before almost every game. Elite runner Mo Farah rescheduled his Ramadan fast in 2011 when the Muslim month of fasting coincided with the world championships. What happens when religion and sports meet? Can a sport really be a religion? This course will teach students how to think about sports as ritual that brings people together, divides them, and gives athletes the power to remake themselves through the way they use and talk about their bodies. We will first look at the ceremonial and ritual aspects of sports from the view of the spectator or fan, considering the question of whether sports teams are totems-- symbols of greater entities that communities gather around for identity and unity. Then we will look at the ritual aspect of sport from the viewpoint of the athlete, considering the ways that athletes use their bodies in sports to foster community and even spirituality. There will be a secondary focus on raising ethical questions through a discussion of case studies based on real events. Issues of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, age and disability will be prominently featured. There will be guest speakers- athletic and academic and at least one class visit to a sporting event. Sports discussed include but are not limited to American Football, Cricket, Futbo (Soccier), Lacrosse, Rowing, Basketball and Track & Field.					https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202410&c=RELS0080202
RELS 0215-401	The Religion of Ancient Egypt	David P Silverman	Weekly lectures (some of which will be illustrated) and a field trip to the University Museum's Egyptian Section. The multifaceted approach to the subject matter covers such topics as funerary literature and religion, cults, magic religious art and architecture, and the religion of daily life.	NELC0215401, NELC6125401	Cross Cultural Analysis
RELS 0250-401	Jerusalem: Holy City	Timothy Hogue	This course will survey the cultural history of Jerusalem over three millennia with a special focus on its configuration as contested, sacred space in multiple traditions (including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and others). The course will address how Jerusalem acquired its “holy” status on both a micro-level (via sacred spaces within the city) and macro-level (as a target for pilgrimage in competition with other cities in the region). These aspects of the city will be analyzed both as they are depicted in texts and as they are attested in the art and architecture found in Jerusalem and in similar cities in the broader Mediterranean/Middle East. The course will examine how sacred space and sacred urbanism are produced through interactions with texts, artifacts, and built environments.	JWST0014401, JWST6414401, NELC0014401, NELC6414401				https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202410&c=RELS0250401
RELS 0318-401	Abrahamic Faiths & Cultures: Create Community Course	Talya Fishman	The aim of this course is to design a Middle School curriculum on “Abrahamic Faiths and Cultures” that will subsequently be taught in local public schools. First two hours will be devoted to study and discussion of primary and secondary sources grouped in thematic units. These will explore Jewish, Christian and Islamic teachings on topics including God, worship, religious calendar, life cycle events, attitudes toward religious others; internal historical developments. During the last seminar hour, we will learn from West Philadelphia clergy members, Middle School Social Studies teachers and principals about what they regard as necessary, and incorporate their insights. During the last hour, West Philadelphia clergy members, Middle School Social Studies teachers and principals will share with us what they believe is needed to enable the course to succeed. Class participants will attend prayer services on fieldtrips to a range of West Philadelphia houses of worship. In future semesters, some class participants may teach the resulting curriculum in selected neighborhood schools.	NELC0318401, URBS0318401				https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202410&c=RELS0318401
RELS 0335-401	Themes in Jewish Trad: Jewish Political Thought & Action	Talya Fishman	Course topics will vary; they have included The Binding of Isaac, Responses to Catastrophes in Jewish History, Holy Men & Women (Ben-Amos); Rewriting the Bible (Dohrmann); Performing Judaism (Fishman); Jewish Political Thought (Fishman); Jewish Esotericism (Lorberbaum) Democratic culture assumes the democracy of knowledge - the accessibility of knowledge and its transparency. Should this always be the case? What of harmful knowledge? When are secrets necessary? In traditional Jewish thought, approaching the divine has often assumed an aura of danger. Theological knowledge was thought of as restricted. This seminar will explore the "open" and "closed" in theological knowledge, as presented in central texts of the rabbinic tradition: the Mishnah, Maimonides and the Kabbalah. Primary sources will be available in both Hebrew and English.	JWST0330401, NELC0330401, NELC6305401	History & Tradition Sector Cross Cultural Analysis
RELS 0666-001	Satan: History, Poetics, and Politics of the Archenemy	Reyhan Durmaz	This course explores the oldest and the most powerful antagonist of human history. Satan, the Devil, referred with many other names in different religious traditions, has a rich history from ancient dualist cosmologies, through the monotheistic traditions, up to the modern day. In this course, we will survey the many expressions of human creativity that underlies the emergence and development of this character. We will study mythology, scripture, philosophy, medicine, material culture, ritual practice, and iconographic representations to discover the many dimensions of the archenemy over the course of two millennia. Through an extensive study of Satan, we will see the ways in which people answered some perennial questions, such as: What is a human? How do we relate to the cosmos and nature? How do we make meaning of suffering? What is morality?		Humanties & Social Science Sector			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202410&c=RELS0666001
RELS 0701-401	Medieval Road Trip: Reading and Writing with Chaucer	Emily R Steiner	This Critical-Creative Seminar reads Chaucer’s pathbreaking The Canterbury Tales to consider whether stories that entertain us can also make us better humans, how we should react when stories offend us; what power short stories have to challenge hierarchies and inequalities, and finally, how translating, adapting, and critiquing old stories can fashion communities of readers and writers across time. Students will have a chance to experiment with Chaucer’s language and meter and ultimately contribute either a critical or a creative piece. See the English Department's website at www.english.upenn.edu for a description of current offerings	COML0701401, ENGL0701401
RELS 1100-401	American Jesus	Anthea Butler	Images and beliefs about Jesus have always been a compelling part of American life. This course seeks to examine the social, political, religious and artistic ways that Jesus has been appropriated and used in American life, making him a unique figure for exploring American religious life. Special attention will be given to how Jesus is used to shape social and political concerns, including race, gender, sexuality and culture.	AFRC1100401
RELS 1440-001	From Jesus to Muhammad: History of Early Christianity	Reyhan Durmaz	"Jesus and Muhammad walk into a bar..." We can think about multiple ways to complete the joke. They could talk about prophecy and prophetic succession, God's word, women, pagans and Jews, state authority, among others. This course traces the long arc of religious history, from the Jesus movement to the rise of Islam. Through texts, objects, buildings, and artistic representations we will study the time period that connects these two significant developments that majorly changed world history. Lectures and discussions will consist of close reading, analysis, and discussion of primary sources, analysis of non-literary media, and engagement with modern scholarship. We will raise questions about ancient and modern perspectives on religious practice, representation, authority, gender, race/ethnicity, memory, and interreligious encounters.					https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202410&c=RELS1440001
RELS 1508-401	Religion, State, and Society in East Asia	Ori Tavor	This course examines the relationship between religious institutions and the state in East Asia. Focusing on China and Japan, we will learn about the impact of religious ideas, practices, and organizations on social, political and economic processes and inspect the role of religion in the consolidation of individual, communal, and national identity. Adopting a comparative and transnational approach, we will examine the impact of Asian religious traditions: Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and Shinto, as well as global religions such as Islam and Christianity, on the states and their role in shaping power relations on the international level.	EALC1508401	Cross Cultural Analysis			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202410&c=RELS1508401
RELS 1610-401	Medieval and Early Modern Jewry	Joshua Teplitsky	Exploration of intellectual, social, and cultural developments in Jewish civilization from the rise of Islam in the seventh century to the assault on established conceptions of faith and religious authority in 17th century Europe, that is, from the age of Mohammed to that of Spinoza. Particular attention will be paid to the interaction of Jewish culture with those of Christianity and Islam.	HIST1610401, JWST1610401, NELC0355401	Cross Cultural Analysis History & Tradition Sector
RELS 1800-401	Sacred Stuff: Religious Bodies, Places, and Objects	Donovan O. Schaefer	Does religion start with what's in our heads? Or are religious commitments made, shaped and strengthened by the people, places, and things around us? This course will explore how religion happens in the material world. We'll start with classical and contemporary theories on the relationship of religion to stuff. We'll then consider examples of how religion is animated not just by texts, but through interactions with objects, spaces, bodies, monuments, color, design, architecture, and film. We'll ask how these material expressions of religion move beyond private faith and connect religion to politics and identity.	ANTH1803001				https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202410&c=RELS1800401
RELS 2560-301	Existential Despair	Justin Mcdaniel	This is an experimental course that seeks to combine creative pedagogical methods and alternative scheduling to encourage intellectual reflection and emotional vulnerability through an in depth study of the way people cope with existential despair. Through a reading of memoirs, novels, poetry, and essays in an atmosphere conducive to close-reading and full-participation students will explore a wide-range of ways of coping with, describing, and comprehending moments of great despair. Lectures will explain the ritual, liturgical, homiletic, meditative, reflective, self-destructive, psycho-somatic, and ascetic ways despair is both conditioned and mitigated by different thinkers from various traditions over time. Format: This course is different from most others in that there is no homework, no outside reading, and no research papers. There will be no work given to students or expected of them outside of class. All work is done in class and class is very long (8 hours straight, once a week, from four PM to midnight). Students will eat together in class, there will be three bathroom breaks, but there will be no internet, no phones, no computers, and no auditors. Each student must be fully committed to the class and 75% of the grade will be determined by class participation.
RELS 2870-401	Religion and Society in Africa	David K. Amponsah Senit Negassi Kidane	In recent decades, many African countries have perennially ranked very high among the most religious. This course serves as an introduction to major forms of religiosity in sub-Saharan Africa. Emphasis will be devoted to the indigenous religious traditions, Christianity and Islam, as they are practiced on the continent. We will examine how these religious traditions intersect with various aspects of life on the continent. The aim of this class is to help students to better understand various aspects of African cultures by dismantling stereotypes and assumptions that have long characterized the study of religions in Africa. The readings and lectures are will be drawn from historical and a few anthropological, and literary sources.	AFRC2870401, HIST0837401	History & Tradition Sector Cultural Diviserity in the U.S.
RELS 3333-401	Love and Sex in Buddhism	Jolyon Thomas	From monastic celibacy to sanctified sex, this course examines the wide variety of attitudes and practices towards love, desire, attachment, and pleasure in the Buddhist tradition. Readings include primary sources from South, Southeast, and East Asia, secondary scholarship on Buddhist social history and doctrine, and theoretical literature on gender, sex, and the body.	GSWS4333401, RELS6333401				https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202410&c=RELS3333401
RELS 4050-401	Religion, Social Justice & Urban Development	Andrew T. Lamas	Urban development has been influenced by religious conceptions of social and economic justice. Progressive traditions within Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Baha'i, Humanism and other religions and systems of moral thought have yielded powerful critiques of oppression and hierarchy as well as alternative economic frameworks for ownership, governance, production, labor, and community. Historical and contemporary case studies from the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East will be considered, as we examine the ways in which religious responses to poverty, inequality, and ecological destruction have generated new forms of resistance and development.	AFRC4050401, URBS4050401				https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202410&c=RELS4050401
RELS 5090-301	Teaching Religion	Steven Phillip Weitzman	Many faculty in academia, especially at a research university, think of themselves as scholars first and teachers second. The emphasis on scholarship is essential for a position at a research university, but what the culture of such institutions can obscure is the importance of teaching as part of the academic vocation. The purpose of this course is to help prepare graduate students to teach academic religious studies, not to teach them how to teach, a skill developed through experience and feedback, but to encourage students to plan in advance for their work as educators and to develop their teaching aspirations and approach in dialogue with issues and debates in Religious Studies, the Humanities and the field of Education.
RELS 5445-301	Islam and Revolution	Alexander Colin Kreger	Islamic history is typically told as a history of continuity. A range of otherwise sharply divergent Muslim communities shape themselves in terms of an unbroken tradition stretching back to the Prophet Muhammad. In this course we will adopt a different approach, reading Islamic history in terms of rupture. A basic premise of this course is that directing our focus in the study of Islam to models and moments of radical political change will necessarily reorient our understanding of Islam in the present. In particular, we will focus on messianism and the figure of the Mahdi in an effort to understand how this figure was deployed differently in three broad periods of Islamic history: the formative period beginning with Muhammad’s initial revolution in seventh-century Arabia through the Mongols’ destruction of the caliphate in 1258, the millennial period of post-Mongol Sufism through the colonial era, and the postcolonial period through today. While we will address famous cases such as Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, a key aim of the course will be to think about revolution beyond the framework of the state and its overthrow, and Islam beyond its currently most visible forms of scripture-mediated piety. How do Islamic ritual practices prefigure and create political change, broadly construed? How do revolutions and their aftermaths negotiate and articulate difference within Islam? How have Muslim rulers and revolutionaries approached the problem of violence; what have they considered legitimate violence and on what terms? We will ask these and related questions in conversation with a variety of historical, anthropological, and theological texts.
RELS 5450-301	Sufi Thought and Literature	Jamal J. Elias	This course is an intensive survey of the rich variety of Islamic intellectual, literary and cultural phenomena subsumed under the term Sufism. Sufi philosophies, liturgical practices, and social organizations have been a major part of the Islamic tradition in all historical periods, and Sufism has also served as a primary muse behind Islamic aesthetic expression in poetry, music, and the visual arts. In this course, we will explore the various significations of Sufism by addressing both the world of ideas and socio-cultural practices. The course is divided into three broad sections: central themes and concepts going back to the earliest individuals who identified themselves as Sufis; Sufi metaphysics and epistemology as exemplified in the work of Ibn al-'Arabi and his school, and literary expressions as exemplified in the epic poem Layla and Majnun by Nizami, The Conference of the Birds by Attar, and in the life and poetry of Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi. In studying this material, we will be concerned equally with establishing common patterns and seeing how being a Sufi has meant different things to various people over the course of history.
RELS 5520-401	Affect Theory and Power	Donovan O. Schaefer	This seminar will examine contemporary affect theory and its relationship with Michel Foucault's theory of power. We will begin by mapping out Foucault's "analytics of power," from his early work on power knowledge to his late work on embodiment, desire, and the care of the self. We will then turn to affect theory, an approach which centralizes the non-rational, emotive force of power. No previous knowledge of theory is required.	COML5520401, GSWS5520401				https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202410&c=RELS5520401
RELS 5600-401	Creating Black Sacred Cultures: Readings in African American Religious History	Vaughn A Booker	This graduate seminar entertains the history of African American cultural production primarily in the twentieth century through foundational and emerging works in the field. This seminar focuses on African American religious history, with a focus on the material, visual, auditory, and literary religious constructions of everyday worlds, lives, and professions. Our readings attend to intersectional dimensions of African American religious life, highlighting the connections of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, class, alternative religious identities, and region. A focus on Black cultural production and its producers enriches African American religious history. Seminar participants will engage the theoretical concerns and methodological approaches that illuminate the ways that Black women and men capture and (re)shape the meaning of their worlds in a variety of domestic, professional, social, and political settings. The seminar’s primary aims are to help participants define interests within the field to pursue further study, to consider potential areas of research, and to aid preparation for doctoral examinations.	AFRC5600401				https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202410&c=RELS5600401
RELS 5730-301	Religion, Imagination, and Uncertainty: Historical and Theoretical Perspectives	Justin Mcdaniel	This course is for graduate students in Religious Studies and related fields that want to both develop a conference paper as part of their professionalization and read theoretical material on studying religion from a Humanities versus Social Science perspective. It looks at the study of religious history, especially the history of monasteries and religious institutions in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism along other examples. Instead of focusing on the political, historical, economic, and social factors that led to a particular institution's rise and maintenance, it looks at the ways in which these institutions existed and were depicted in the human imagination -- painting, poetry, autobiography, music, and the like. It also looks at theoretical perspectives on the religious imagination of Leo Bersani, Sherry Ortner, Lorand Matory, Herman Hesse, Saidya Hartman, Gananath Obeyesekere, Steve Collins, Heather Love, Amir Eshel, Inbar Graiver, David Shulman, Andy Rotman, as well as older work by Jean Lyotard, Yukio Mishima, Erving Goffman, Hannah Arendt, Louis Aragon, Emmanuel Levinas, Paul Ricouer, Simone Weil, Pierre Hadot, and others. It looks to explore the very idea of the irrational, uncertain, incomplete, imaginative, and poetic in the formation of very idea of the religious life and the very idea of "tradition."
RELS 5900-301	Religious Nationalisms: A Global Perspective	Anthea Butler	Religious nationalism is the fusion of religion with national and ethnic identity. Since the 1970’s it has become an important force in reshaping political activity, and the relationship of religious movements and groups to governments around the world. This seminar will explore religions, political actors, and philosophies that have made religious nationalism a potent force for polarization and political power in the 21st century. Traditional scholarship on nationalism has focused on secularism and the decline of religion, but since the 1970’s, appeals to religious belief and ethnic identity as defining foundations of the nation-state have increased. The project of democracy and modernity has butted against postmodern beliefs and the desire of many religious nationalists to return to “tradition”, to hold their ethnoreligious identities as the pure foundation of the state against the encroaching boundaries of globalization and immigration. Politicians have used religious nationalism as a wedge to consolidate power, enact draconian laws, and to define the boundaries of national and ethnic identity. Religious leaders have used it to shape public policy to mirror religious beliefs, and to gain temporal and spiritual authority. This course covers the late 20th and early 21st centuries, exploring how the rise of religious nationalism has been a destabilizing force.
RELS 6333-201	Love and Sex in Buddhism	Jolyon Thomas	From monastic celibacy to sanctified sex, this course examines the wide variety of attitudes and practices towards love, desire, attachment, and pleasure in the Buddhist tradition. Readings include primary sources from South, Southeast, and East Asia, secondary scholarship on Buddhist social history and doctrine, and theoretical literature on gender, sex, and the body.					https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202410&c=RELS6333302
RELS 6333-401	Love and Sex in Buddhism	Jolyon Thomas	From monastic celibacy to sanctified sex, this course examines the wide variety of attitudes and practices towards love, desire, attachment, and pleasure in the Buddhist tradition. Readings include primary sources from South, Southeast, and East Asia, secondary scholarship on Buddhist social history and doctrine, and theoretical literature on gender, sex, and the body.	GSWS4333401, RELS3333401				https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202410&c=RELS6333301
RELS 7720-301	Islam, Gender, and Colonialism	Megan E Robb	In the latter 19th and early 20th centuries South Asians became increasingly concerned with women’s education and other social issues related to gender. Following the fall of the Mughal Empire in 1857, the class of urban gentry previously associated with government service and land ownership struggled to shore up the boundaries of their communities. For Muslims particularly, as the place of religion was pushed from the public to the private sphere, the middle class sought to ground itself in a discussion of what constituted proper female behavior. Influenced by the advent of the Victorian purity text in the same period, Indian authors (primarily male) began to weigh in on female propriety. Nazir Ahmed is the most prominent author of 19th century Urdu purity texts, which sought to demonstrate praiseworthy female behavior. Students will have a chance to look at theoretical texts related to gender, as well as read primary sources of influential purity texts written by Nazir Ahmed and Ashraf ‘Ali Thanawi. Playful and subversive fictional accounts challenged some of these reformist mores. Newspaper accounts contemporary to the period will also provide context on the gender debate. Male norms of comportment were equally crucial in the debate regarding gender boundaries – our discussion of purity texts will include the importance of male behavior, and the pleasure of transgression associated with crossing gender boundaries.