Ancient Views on the Upright Human Posture and the New Testament Concept of Resurrection
Abstract
In ancient anthropological views, the ability to stand upright was often regarded as a distinctively human ability given by the gods. Sometimes it was connected not only to the uprightness of the human body but also to that of the human soul, and indicated the human ability to contemplate one’s immortality. In the ancient Graeco-Roman literature this feature of the human soul was also connected with the restoration of physical life as a process of waking up from the sleep of death and was often represented by the verbs ἀνίστημι and ἐγέιρω. In biblical and cognate texts, these verbs represent the concept of resurrection. The present article discusses the link between the idea of physical uprightness and that of resurrection in ancient sources, especially the New Testament. In doing so, it applies some ideas of cognitive linguistics that help us to establish this link by means of the image-scheme UP-DOWN, which is used for creating the metaphor of resurrection as waking up and getting up from the sleep of death.
About the Author
A. B. Somov
Translation consultant, Institute for Bible Translation; The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; St. Philaret's Orthodox Christian Institute
Russian Federation
Competing Interests: not
Russian Federation
Alexey B. Somov - PhD (Theology), Translation consultant, Institute for Bible Translation; Senior Researcher, The Russian Presidential ANEPA; Assistant professor St. Philaret's Orthodox Christian Institute
Moscow
Competing Interests: not
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Acknowledgments: This study is a part of the research project “Textual analysis of cross-cultural contacts between the classical civilizations of the East in the context of religious beliefs”. The project was conducted in 2019 by the Laboratory of Oriental Studies and Comparative Historical Linguistics at the School of Contemporary Humanitarian Research (School of Public Policy) of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration
For citation:
Somov A.B. Ancient Views on the Upright Human Posture and the New Testament Concept of Resurrection. Orientalistica. 2019;2(3):752-768. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31696/2618-7043-2019-2-3-752-768
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