Major
Philosophy
Anticipated Graduation Year
2025
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
As biblical interpreters have tried to rationalize the (in)famous fall of humanity in Genesis 2, they often consolidate blame to the woman, Eve. Specifically, Augustine of Hippo’s City of God portrays Eve in a purposefully negative light to fortify patriarchal domination. In this presentation, I will discuss how certain approaches to the interpretation of Genesis, specifically, "the fall", construct what Bernard Williams denotes as a culture of guilt, particularly in relation to women and feminine sexuality. Accordingly, I will also evaluate how the 2023 film Poor Things, posits parallels and subversion to scrutinize these insisted gender ontologies.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Dr. Lauren O'Connell
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
From Naked and Ashamed to Clothed and Guilt-Ridden: Augustine of Hippo and Poor Things (2023) in Dialogue with Genesis 1-3
As biblical interpreters have tried to rationalize the (in)famous fall of humanity in Genesis 2, they often consolidate blame to the woman, Eve. Specifically, Augustine of Hippo’s City of God portrays Eve in a purposefully negative light to fortify patriarchal domination. In this presentation, I will discuss how certain approaches to the interpretation of Genesis, specifically, "the fall", construct what Bernard Williams denotes as a culture of guilt, particularly in relation to women and feminine sexuality. Accordingly, I will also evaluate how the 2023 film Poor Things, posits parallels and subversion to scrutinize these insisted gender ontologies.