Zeus Syndrome: A Very Short History of Religion-Based Masculine Domination

Zeus Syndrome: A Very Short History of Religion-Based Masculine Domination is a critical assessment of biblical gender hierarchy and its intersection with power and religion, using #MeToo and Catholic Church abuse as examples. It highlights how this construction excludes women and produces a rape culture, and how the Bible is intertwined with other religio-cultural traditions in the Mediterranean world and received and applied in the contemporary world.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 142 pages
Publication date: 27 May 2024
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Zeus Syndrome: A Very Short History of Religion-Based Masculine Domination is a critical examination of biblical gender hierarchy concepts and the intersection of sex/gender, power, and religion. It begins with the #MeToo movement and the abuse of religious power in the Catholic Church, presenting a concise selection of historical case studies. The book demonstrates how a specific construction of the relationship between sex/gender, power, and religion excludes women and those perceived as feminine or effeminate from power and creates a rape culture that uses and excuses violent sexuality as an appropriate manifestation of masculine power. Biblical studies are increasingly interdisciplinary and focus on contextualizing the reading of biblical texts. This volume explores how the Bible is intertwined with other religio-cultural traditions in the Mediterranean world, how biblical and extra-biblical ancient concepts of gender hierarchy have left traces in the cultural memory, and how the Bible is received and applied in the contemporary world, particularly in the politics, news media, and churches of Western post-Christian societies and African Christianity. Throughout the text, religious history and biblical tradition are linked with recent conflicts to show how traces of these concepts continue to resonate and influence the world of today, even in post-Christian societies.

Weight: 178g
Dimension: 197 x 129 x 13 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032215518