Language, Cognition, and Biblical Exegesis: Interpreting Minds

What kind of role do texts play in religious practice? What is the relationship between these texts and cognition? Are some texts more successful because they are better adapted to our cognitive structures? This book considers such questions, and fills the gap in research on religious texts and narratives in the cognitive science of religion. The study of ancient religions and biblical studies are dominated by textual evidence. However, the cognitive science of religion is lacking significant research on the language and textual interpretation of this literature. This book presents a systematic attempt to redefine the interpretation of religious texts in a cognitive framework, providing concrete textual analysis on a broad selection of biblical passages. It explores the ways that cognitive approaches to language and textual interpretation expand the disciplines of the cognitive science of religion and biblical studies. The editors bring together methodology from the cognitive sciences, linguistics, philology, biblical studies, and religious studies, to offer a new perspective for linguists and cognitive scientists. They present a renewed vision of textual interpretation - one that aligns hermeneutical reflection with our cognitive capacities.