RELS 335 Gender in the Diversity of World Religions
Midterm Essay Instructions
In this essay, please compare and contrast the two sections on “Women Philosophers” dedicated to Sosipatra (p. 175) and Hypatia (p.177) in Young’s An Anthology of Sacred Texts By and About Women. Through a close reading of both texts, analyze and explain the tension between knowledge and/or violence mediated through religion and gender. Feel free to organize your essay through a few key concepts that allow for a critical comparison between both works. To help guide a sustained analysis throughout your essay, do be sure to provide specific examples and pose critical questions throughout your essay, such as, but not limited to, the following:

• What purpose does the ritual of violence serve in the torture and murder of Hypatia?
• Is Hypatia’s ritualized torture and murder gender (female) specific? i.e. Does it matter that Hypatia was a woman?
• Is the attainment of knowledge a dangerous pursuit for a woman?
• How does religion (in this case a competing religion, Christianity) determine the particular way that Hypatia lost her life?
• What tension exists between the “cultivation of the mind” and Christianity in this case?
• In thinking about Sosipatra, why would female intelligence be viewed as an exceptional, even miraculous, quality?
• Is the price for educating women very high in a patriarchal society?
• Is the female pursuit of knowledge an act of courage on the part of society?

Requirements:
Word Doc format, 12 pt font/Times New Roman, 1-inch margins, 5-6 pages, quote sparingly (and no block quotes), a meaningful title; late submissions will be deducted an entire grade
Due: Friday May 13th by 11:50PM
Note: Please cite parenthetically within the body of your essay, e.g.: (Author, page #)