A Call for Scholarship on Emotions in the Bible
Recently, I submitted a concept paper in hopes of the opportunity to publish some of my research professionally. The following prose comprises a large portion of what I submitted:
A Call for Scholarship on Emotions in the Bible
Recent science has revealed that emotions guide what we attend to, what we remember, and how we interact with our environment (Tyng et al. 2017). Scientists no longer divide emotions from reason. Instead, they believe emotions and other cognitive processes constantly inform each other (Barrett 2018). Emotions mobilize us to protect what we value and to advance our causes faster than deliberative thoughts ever could (Adolphs and Anderson 2018). We have strong emotional reactions only when events touch our core values (cf. Scarantino and de Sousa 2021). Likewise, emotional engagement can also motivate shifts in worldview and lifestyle; lack of emotional engagement reveals a lack of perceived relevance. Our brains are hardwired to store and retrieve memories of emotion more effectively than details of interactions. Even when we forget the details, we remember how an event (or person) made us feel (Tyng et al. 2017). Our brains are also designed to pay more attention to the emotion people express than their exact words, because their emotions indicate more about their pragmatic intentions than their words (Lanigan 2022). The overwhelming volumes of literature in emotion studies have led me to the following conclusion: the emotions in any communication are central to its meaning. If we neglect the emotions in the text, we neglect the heart of the message.
Translators and other gospel communicators, then, must have materials that allow them to communicate the emotions in the Scriptures adequately. This is especially true for oral and sign language translations because the audiences will subconsciously use the perceived emotions as the interpretive frame for the entire utterance. Clear expression of the emotions in the Bible through our oral and sign translations is key to remaining faithful to the text. Knowing if we have correctly identified the emotions in the Bible, however, remains elusive.
Books on biblical background material abound, linguistically informed dictionaries proliferate, and debates about source and redaction criticism fill volumes beyond what one could read, but we have nothing even approaching a reliable commentary on emotions in the Bible. We do not have a guide for understanding the emotions within the text, nor a sound methodology for conducting our own exegesis. This is not to say that Christians have not delved into emotions. Quite the contrary, Christian contemplative literature and historical fiction novels that explore the depths of the Bible’s emotional landscape could fill entire libraries. These works do not, however, stand on firmly grounded scholarship.
Biblical scholars, riding the recent wave of emotion studies, have begun to fill the gaps (Spencer 2017; 2021; Elliott 2006). In this paper, I use ideas from the most recent and widely accepted research on emotions to outline a methodology for exegeting emotions within the biblical texts and translating them across cultures. The paper provides an introduction to the study of emotions (section 1), then focuses on the role of emotions in oral-aural communication (section 2). With that foundation, the paper outlines what is necessary for a grounded exegesis of emotions (section 3), then demonstrates the methodology in a case study of Mark 5:21-43 with suggestions for the translation and checking process (section 4). The paper ends with directions for further research (section 5) and concluding remarks (section 6).
My Invitation to You
If you would like to join me in studying emotions in the Bible, please let me know! I have a stack of things that could be done and would love to work with other people so BIble translators can get the information faster.
Sources
- Adolphs, Ralph, and David J. Anderson. 2018. The Neuroscience of Emotion: A New Synthesis. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Barrett, Lisa. 2018. How Emotions Are Made. Main Market Ed. edition. London: Mariner Books.
- Elliott, Matthew A. 2006. Faithful Feelings: Rethinking Emotion in the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic.
- Lanigan, Richard L. 2022. “Saving-Face: The Nonverbal Communicology of Basic Emotions.” In Exploring the Translatability of Emotions: Cross-Cultural and Transdisciplinary Encounters, edited by Susan Petrilli and Meng Ji, 279–319. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91748-7_11.
- Spencer, F. Scott, ed. 2017. Mixed Feelings and Vexed Passions: Exploring Emotions in Biblical Literature. Atlanta: SBL Press.
- Spencer, F. Scott. 2021. Passions of the Christ: The Emotional Life of Jesus in the Gospels. Baker Academic.
- Tyng, Chai M., Hafeez U. Amin, Mohamad N. M. Saad, and Aamir S. Malik. 2017. “The Influences of Emotion on Learning and Memory.” Frontiers in Psychology 8. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01454.
- Picture credit: Megs Harrison on Unsplash.