The Role of Conceptual Integration in Christian Language on the Basis of the Use of THE LOST SHEEP IS HUMANITY Blend in Patristic Writings

The article investigates the role of conceptual integration in generating new theological meanings in early Christian texts. Its basic assumption is that metaphoricity and novelty of language of Christian doctrine and teaching in early Christian period should be regarded as a well attested case of l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Open theology
Main Author: Gomola, Aleksander (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: De Gruyter 2018
In: Open theology
Further subjects:B Augustine
B Donatist controversy
B Gregory of Nyssa
B Conceptual blends
B patristic writings
B the parable of the lost sheep
B Pseudo-Macarius
B Conceptual Blending Theory
B Origen
B Christology
B Patristics
B blending
B Cyril of Alexandria
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Summary:The article investigates the role of conceptual integration in generating new theological meanings in early Christian texts. Its basic assumption is that metaphoricity and novelty of language of Christian doctrine and teaching in early Christian period should be regarded as a well attested case of linguistic creativity whose mechanisms are explained by Conceptual Blending Theory as proposed by Fauconnier and Turner. After a brief presentation of selected theological studies utilizing cognitive linguistic perspective and a brief discussion of basic notions of Conceptual Blending Theory, the article examines variants of the THE LOST SHEEP IS HUMANITY blend in selected patristic texts by Origen, Cyril of Alexandria, Pseudo-Macarius, Augustine and Gregory of Nyssa. The analysis of these variants shows that conceptual integration allowed these authors to create and develop a wide range of theological ideas representing many important aspects of Christian doctrine from soteriology, through ecclesiology to Christology. This in turn proves that cognitive linguistics may provide theologians with instruments of linguistic analysis that shed new light on many aspects of theological language and reasoning.
ISSN:2300-6579
Contains:Enthalten in: Open theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1515/opth-2018-0012