Social and Cognitive Perspectives on the Sermon on the Mount

1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-78179-421-0
Verlag: Equinox Publishing Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 705 g

Reihe: Studies in Ancient Religion and Culture

Social and Cognitive Perspectives on the Sermon on the Mount offers fresh readings of themes and individual sayings in the Sermon on the Mount (SM) using socio-cognitive approaches. Because these approaches are invested in patterns of human cognition and social mechanisms, the resulting collection highlights the persistent appeal and persuasiveness of the SM: from innate moral drives, to the biology of emotion and risk-taking, to the formation and obliteration of in-group/out-group distinctions. Through these theories the authors show why--even across cultures and history--the SM continues to grip both individual minds and groups of people in order to shape moral communities. Classical historical-critical readings interpret the sermon according to the conventions of literature, seeking a relationship to other texts and ideas. By contrast our volume explores the SM not so much for the logical and historical relationships to other literary traditions, but also--and perhaps more importantly--for the ways it stimulates emotional, biologically, culturally habituated, evolutionarily preconditioned, and socially sanctioned characteristics of humans. In short, the volume shines a light on the action-inducing properties of the text. The volume will introduce a broader group of scholars, students, and clergy to the relevance of social scientific and cognitive studies for interpretation of the Bible, by applying these approaches to possibly the most read and discussed text in the Bible.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Roitto, Rikard

Shantz, Colleen

Luomanen, Petri

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Heilige & Traditionelle Texte, Mythologie, Vergleichende Mythologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Bibelwissenschaften Neues Testament: Exegese, Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Social and Cognitive Perspectives on the Sermon on the Mount: Introduction Rikard Roitto, Colleen Shantz and Petri Luomanen PART 1: INDIVIDUAL COGNITION 2. It's All in How You Look at It: The Eyes and Morality in Matt 6:22-23 Colleen Shantz 3. Perception of Risk in the Sermon on the Mount Rikard Roitto 4. Altruism and Prosocial Ideals in the Sermon: Between Human Nature and Divine Potential Thomas Kazen, University College Stockholm 5. Ritual Acts in the Sermon on the Mount Rodney A. Werline, Barton College, USA PART 2: TEXT AND COGNITION 6. Emotional Repression and Physical Mutilation? The Cognitive and Behavioural Impact of Exaggeration in the Sermon on the Mount Thomas Kazen 7. Parables in the Sermon on the Mount: A Cognitive and Rhetorical Perspective Lauri Thuren, University of Eastern Finland 8. Is There a Reason to Worry? A Pragma-Dialectical Analysis of Matthew 6:25-34 Niilo Lahti, University of Eastern Finland PART 3: SOCIAL DYNAMICS 9. Hypocrites and the Pure in Heart: Religion as an Evolved Strategy for In-Group Formation John Teehan, Hofstra University, USA 10. "Whoever is kind to the poor lends to Yahweh, and will be repaid in full" (Prov 19:17): Patterns of Indirect Reciprocity in the Book of Proverbs and in the Sermon on the Mount Anne Katrine de Hemmer Gudme, University of Copenhagen 11. Macarisms and Identity Formation: Insights from the Comparison of 4QBeatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount Elisa Uusimaki, University of Helsinki 12. Remembering the Sermon in the Mountains of France Alicia Batten, University of Waterloo

Über Autor(innen)

Rikard Roitto is University Lecturer of Biblical Studies at the Stockholm School of Theology at University College Stockholm. Colleen Shantz is Associate Professor of Christian Origins and Biblical Studies at St. Michael’s College in the Toronto School of Theology and Dept. for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto. Petri Luomanen is Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Culture and Literature in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Helsinki.