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Numerous texts from the New Testament deal with passions in a wide variety of genres. Historical-critical methods have been applied but cannot be regarded as complete. Especially for texts dealing with passions, no consensus of methodology has yet been established. The situation is further complicated by the existence of differing or ambiguous definitions and many unclear categories. This article highlights some important aspects we ought to consider when describing and analyzing passions in their given literary contexts with precision. They belong to abstract concepts; they appear in explicit terms, but also in paraphrases – that is, in a descriptive manner represented by facial expressions and gestures, for example. They are expressed by descriptions of diverse physical symptoms and by metaphors. This variety results in semantic problems. Many additional factors have to be taken into account. The duration, quality, and intensity of passions described ought to be considered. Emotions are embedded in psychological processes, and they might be connected to pragmatic intentions. The different genres and concepts of texts in which they occur should not be neglected either. Most of the emotional phenomena are culturally acquired forms of expression and communication. Therefore, it is always necessary to be aware of the danger of anachronism, and to consider the historical and cultural background along with its respective display rules: namely, the socially accepted patterns and rituals in which these passions could be encountered. In the last section of this article, a functional psychological approach of exegesis with concrete examples is offered to assist with finding suitable methods.
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1
S.R. Leighton, “Aristotle and the Emotions,” Phronesis 27.2 (1982), pp. 144-74; L.A. Kosman, “Being Properly Affected: Virtues and Feelings in Aristotle’s Ethics,” in A. Oksenberg Rorty (ed.), Essays on Aristotle’s Ethics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), pp. 103-116; A. Oksenberg Rorty (ed.), Essays on Aristotle’s Rhetoric (Philosophical Traditions 6; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996).
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3
A. Zierl, Affekte in der Tragödie. Orestie, Oidipus Tyrannos und die Poetik des Aristoteles (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1994).
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7
Already back in 1981, P.R. Kleinginna and A.M. Kleinginna collected and analyzed more than 90 different definitions of emotions in English alone. See P.R. Kleinginna Jr. and A.M. Kleinginna, “A Categorized List of Emotion Definitions, with Suggestions for a Consensual Definition,” Motivation and Emotion 5.4 (1981), pp. 345-79. Depending on the approach, emotions can be described as affective and cognitive, psycho-physiological and motivational, situational and syndromic, expressive and adaptive phenomena. P.T. Young (Emotion in Man and Animal: Its Nature and Relation to Attitude and Motive [Huntington/New York: Krieger, 1973], p. 749) argues that “almost everyone except the psychologist knows what an emotion is… . The trouble with the psychologist is that emotional processes and states are complex and can be analyzed from so many points of view that a complete picture is virtually impossible. It is necessary, therefore, to examine emotional events piecemeal and in different systematic contexts.” See also M. Wenger, F. Jones, M. Jones, “Emotional Behavior,” in D.K. Candland (ed.), Emotion: Bodily Change, an Enduring Problem in Psychology (Princeton: Van Nostrand, 1962), p. 3: “Emotion is a peculiar word. Almost everyone thinks he (sic) understands what it means, until he (sic) attempts to define it.”
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10
Schwarz-Friesel, Sprache und Emotion, p. 138; D.A. Cruse et al. (eds.), Lexikologie/Lexicology: Ein internationales Handbuch zur Natur und Struktur von Wörtern und Wortschätzen (Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2002) vol. 1, pp. 78-128, 200-227. Only in the last two decades linguists have started dealing intensively with the question of how linguistic representations can be used to refer to human inner experiences. See Schwarz-Friesel, Sprache und Emotion, p. 12 for more bibliographic references.
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12
F. de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics (trans. W. Baskin; Glasgow: Fontana/Collins, 1977), pp. 92-93 (§133), 146-47 (§203).
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13
Z. Kövecses, Emotion Concepts (New York: Springer, 1990), pp. 11-20; 41-49.
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18
N. Geldenkuys, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke (NIC 3; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1956), pp. 81-82.
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19
Geldenkuys, Commentary, p. 82; B. Weiss (Handbuch über die Evangelien des Markus und Lukas, [KEK I.2; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck/Ruprecht, 6th edn, 1878], p. 267) writes, “Gemeint ist eine Bewegung des Kindes im Mutterleibe, wie sie im 6. Monat der Schwangerschaft durchaus nichts Ungewöhnliches ist, nur der Erzähler legt ihr von vornherein eine Bedeutung unter.” See also H. Klein, Das Lukasevangelium übersetzt und erklärt (KEK über das NT I.3; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck/Ruprecht, 10th edn, 2006), p. 111; and D.L. Bock, Luke I, 1:1-9:50 (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament III.1; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999), pp. 132-41. According to Bock, “Many speculate that Elizabeth’s excitement caused fetal movement. But such attempts at physiological explanation miss the point of the narrative” (p. 135).
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20
J.A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke I-IX (AB 28; New York: Doubleday, 1970), pp. 357-58. See in contrast M. Wolter, Das Lukasevangelium (HNT 5; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2008), p. 97.
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22
J.B. Green, The Gospel of Luke (NIC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), p. 95.
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35
J.A. Russell, “Culture and the Categorization of Emotions,” Psychological Bulletin 110.3 (1991), pp. 426-50.
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36
K. Berger, Historische Psychologie des Neuen Testaments (SBS, 146-147; Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1991), p. 17.
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40
R.S. Lazarus, Emotion and Adaptation (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), pp. 203-213.
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42
Lazarus, Emotion and Adaption, pp. 168-69, 210; R.S. Lazarus and S. Folkman, Stress, Appraisal, and Coping (New York: Springer, 1984), pp. 24-25, 32-38. See also Inselmann, Freude, p. 44. Following Epictet, Encheiridion, c5a 11.12 (ed. G.J. Boter; Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum Teubneriana; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2007), p. 6: “Men are disturbed not by things but by the views which they take on them.”
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46
Lazarus and Folkman, Stress, pp. 44; 150-157; R.S. Lazarus, Stress and Emotion: A New Synthesis (Springer: New York, 1999), pp. 114-115.
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Search for other papers by Anke Inselmann in
Current site
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Numerous texts from the New Testament deal with passions in a wide variety of genres. Historical-critical methods have been applied but cannot be regarded as complete. Especially for texts dealing with passions, no consensus of methodology has yet been established. The situation is further complicated by the existence of differing or ambiguous definitions and many unclear categories. This article highlights some important aspects we ought to consider when describing and analyzing passions in their given literary contexts with precision. They belong to abstract concepts; they appear in explicit terms, but also in paraphrases – that is, in a descriptive manner represented by facial expressions and gestures, for example. They are expressed by descriptions of diverse physical symptoms and by metaphors. This variety results in semantic problems. Many additional factors have to be taken into account. The duration, quality, and intensity of passions described ought to be considered. Emotions are embedded in psychological processes, and they might be connected to pragmatic intentions. The different genres and concepts of texts in which they occur should not be neglected either. Most of the emotional phenomena are culturally acquired forms of expression and communication. Therefore, it is always necessary to be aware of the danger of anachronism, and to consider the historical and cultural background along with its respective display rules: namely, the socially accepted patterns and rituals in which these passions could be encountered. In the last section of this article, a functional psychological approach of exegesis with concrete examples is offered to assist with finding suitable methods.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 725 | 91 | 7 |
| Full Text Views | 353 | 25 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 259 | 64 | 1 |