Why This Text Matters | Before the Law | Sarah Hammerschlag

Religious studies courses can feature a broad range and variety of texts, including anything from The Daodejing, to The Mishnah, to Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, to Mary Douglas’s Purity and Danger, to Said’s Orientalism. The Marty Center partnered with the Undergraduate Religious Studies Program to design “Why This Text Matters” as a series of videos to help faculty prepare for courses, their students, and anyone generally curious about important texts in the study of religion. In the space of about 30 minutes, viewers can gain a deeper understanding of the context, themes, and significance of texts taught by experts at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
About the Text:
Franz Kafka’s "Before the Law" is a text for which there is no shortage of commentary, both when read in the context for which it was originally written in The Trial and as an independent composition, which Kafka published in his lifetime (1915, 1920). It is exactly the text’s capacity to solicit commentary that makes it interesting for Religious Studies. While Kafka has often been described as a modern Jewish writer, the story does not itself indicate or point towards any particular religious tradition. Nonetheless, it can help us think about the interpretive dynamics of scripture, particularly in understanding how religious texts shore up their authority and perpetuate their influence.