Barbara Thiede, Ph.D.

Male Friendship, Homosociality and

Women in the Hebrew Bible

Jan. 30

7 p.m.
Reception at 6 p.m.

Open to the public at no charge.

The Dubois Center at UNC Charlotte Center City
320 E. 9th Street, Charlotte, NC 28202

Parking and Light Rail Information

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The Bible is no relic. The stories it tells mirror human behavior of our own time. It is, in fact, one of the most powerful and influential texts we know. Barbara Thiede, Ph.D.’s Male Friendship, Homosociality, and Women in the Hebrew Bible: Malignant Fraternities explores how male relationships—both divine and mortal—are depicted in these texts. Male friendships and alliances are crucial to both biblical culture and our contemporary one. They undergird biblical culture as they undergird our own. Disturbingly, both in the Bible and in our own time, male relationships often rely on shared sexual experience and sexual violence against women. We should ask: why do the Bible’s toxic male relationships seem so familiar and frighteningly real even in our own time? Doing so will empower and enable us in finding solutions, answers, and hope.

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Barbara Thiede, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of Judaic Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her work focuses primarily on the structures of hegemonic masculinity and the performance of masculinities in biblical texts. She is also the author of Rape Culture in the House of David: A Company of Men. Her current project is a monograph titled Yhwh’s Emotional and Sexual Life in the Books of Samuel: How the Deity Acts the Man. Thiede blogs at adrenalinedrash.com and, in an ideal world, would use any  spare time she had to grow her own vegetables and to compost every last item she could.

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All Personally Speaking published experts series events are hosted by the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences with The Dubois Center at UNC Charlotte Center City and J. Murrey Atkins Library. During these community talks, College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences faculty engage audiences in conversation about their research findings and describe the personal motivations for writing their books. The presentation may be recorded. During these community talks, College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences faculty engage audiences in conversation about their research findings and describe the personal motivations for writing their books. The presentation may be recorded.

The author welcomes questions and comments about Thiede, Barbara. Male Friendship, Homosociality, and Women in the Hebrew Bible: Malignant Fraternities. Routledge, 2021, which will be available for sale at the event. Or request the book from your local library. It is not necessary to have read the book before attending.