Heavenly journeys as neurocultural experiences
Social-scientific interpretation started more than thirty years ago based on the insight that the Bible was written by, for and about people in the ancient Mediterranean world whose culture, worldview, social patterns, and daily expectations differed sharply from those of the modern West. Therefore,...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
2014
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| In: |
Neotestamentica
Year: 2014, Volume: 48, Issue: 2, Pages: 387-403 |
| Further subjects: | B
J.J. Pilch
B Comparative Analysis B Alternate states of consciousness B Neurocultural phenomena B Out-of-body experiences B Social-scientific interpretation B heavenly journeys |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Social-scientific interpretation started more than thirty years ago based on the insight that the Bible was written by, for and about people in the ancient Mediterranean world whose culture, worldview, social patterns, and daily expectations differed sharply from those of the modern West. Therefore, insights from the social and human sciences are utilised in order to identify and apply the social and cultural scripts of ancient Mediterranean life to biblical texts. But in doing so metatheoretical assumptions about the aim of interpretation inadvertently play a role in characterising the interpretive enterprise. The work of John Pilch on visions, heavenly journeys and other peak experiences in the biblical world, Flights of the Soul, offers a useful example for examining such assumptions and their impact on interpretation. The secular study of out-of-body experiences is used to illustrate that social-scientific interpretation of the New Testament is confronted with a choice between merely translating first-century Mediterranean practices and experiences into social scientific jargon or to offer comparative analyses based on a critical understanding of such practices and experiences. |
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| ISSN: | 2518-4628 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Neotestamentica
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.10520/EJC167284 |