Tag: (E) ekthambeisthai εκθαμβεισθαι

(2018) Ancient (New Testament) Greek – Emotions

Wierzbicka, Anna (2018). Emotions of Jesus. Russian Journal of Linguistics, 22(1), 38-53.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22363/2312-9182-2018-22-1-38-53 / Open access

Abstract:

The idea that we can pinpoint what Jesus meant with one word, from a particular language (be it Russian, English, Greek or Aramaic), is simplistic. To fully understand Jesus’ teaching about ‘anger’ in a precise and unbiased way, we need to go beyond single words of this or that language; we need to try to articulate it through simple sentences couched in universal words. In addition, what applies to Jesus’ teaching about emotions also applies to Jesus’ ’emotional practice’. What did he feel when he saw someone doing something very bad, or someone to whom something very bad was happening?

NSM allows us to replace crude formulations such as “Did Jesus feel angry?” or “What did Jesus teach about anger?” with questions that are far more fine-grained, and that enable us to reach far more fine-grained and meaningful answers.

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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(2009) Emotion research

Wierzbicka, Anna (2009). Language and metalanguage: Key issues in emotion research. Emotion Review, 1(1), 3-14. DOI: 10.1177/1754073908097175

Building on the author’s earlier work, this paper argues that language is a key issue in understanding human emotions and that treating English emotion terms as valid analytical tools continues to be a roadblock in the study of emotions. Further, it shows how the methodology developed by the author and colleagues, known as NSM (Natural Semantic Metalanguage), allows us to break free of the shackles of English psychological terms and explore human emotions from a culture-independent perspective. The use of NSM makes it possible to study human emotions from a genuinely cross-linguistic and cross-cultural, as well as a psychological, perspective and thus opens up new possibilities for the scientific understanding of subjectivity and psychological experience.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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