Metaphor and morality: Examples of Paul's moral thinking in 1 Corinthians 1-5
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2005
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Neotestamentica: Journal of the New Testament Society of South Africa (NTSSA)
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University of Cape Town
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Abstract
During the last thirty years or so the cognitive sciences have achieved extraordinary results in understanding how our human minds think, reason, and create meaning, as well as how we communicate the results of our thinking, reasoning, and meaning making through language. One of the places where cognitive psychology and cognitive linguistics come together is in metaphorical thinking and the pervasive use of metaphors in everyday human language. In this paper I present an introductory exploration of Paul's metaphorical thinking in his moral reasoning by examining some of the moral metaphors in 1 Corinthians 1-5. I begin by introducing the cognitive understanding of metaphorical reasoning and its relationship to the profoundly metaphorical character of moral reasoning as discussed in various writing, both individually and collectively, by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. I then turn to 1 Corinthians 1-5 to demonstrate that metaphors play a crucial role in Paul's moral reasoning. I conclude that the understanding of metaphor by contemporary cognitive sciences offers a valuable, in fact, indispensable tool for examining Paul's moral concepts, moral thinking, and moral reasoning.
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Wanamaker, C. A. (2005). Metaphor and morality: examples of Paul's moral thinking in 1 Corinthians 1-5. Neotestamentica, 39(2), p-409.