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Embodying Resurrection: Conceptualisations of this Life and the Next in the Undisputed Paulines

Tappenden, Frederick Sidney

[Thesis]. Manchester, UK: The University of Manchester; 2012.

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Abstract

This study examines the centrality of the body in the apostle Paul’s resurrection ideals. It is argued that Paul holds to a non-propositional understanding of resurrection that is grounded in recurrent patterns of human embodiment. Such an assertion stands in stark contrast to the pervading scholarly consensus, which is exceedingly cognicentric in its outlook and premised on an untenable opposition of body and mind. In contrast to this consensus, which disembodies resurrection, the present study demonstrates the extent to which Paul’s resurrection ideals are somatically grounded. Working within a theoretical matrix that integrates the study of cognition and culture, this study utilises methodologies drawn from cognitive linguistics. Three theoretical concepts are particularly elaborated in relation to Paul: (1) Mark Johnson’s understanding of image schemata, (2) George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s understanding of conceptual metaphor, and (3) Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner’s understanding of conceptual blending. These three theoretical concepts are utilised in concert with one another and thus constitute this study’s methodological apparatus. After demonstrating the inherent cognicentrism of standard scholarly approaches (ch. 1), this study examines four aspects in which resurrection can be seen as an embodied concept. Chapter 2 establishes a conceptual framework in which resurrection texts can be both identified and interpreted. It is argued that the concept of RESURRECTION is necessarily abstract and metaphorical in nature, though fundamentally grounded in recurrent patterns of human embodiment. In ch. 3 attention is directed to Paul’s transformation metaphors and notions of both dualism and monism in the apostle’s thought. It is argued that Paul works within a dualistic framework characterised not by opposition (e.g., body vs. soul) but rather by tensive integration (e.g., the embodied soul). Building on this assertion, in ch. 4 we examine the extent to which Paul understands resurrection as a present (and not merely future) experience. Critically assessing the apostle’s eschatological outlook, this chapter argues that the somatic interior functions as the location of present resurrection. In ch. 5 this experience of present resurrection is further elaborated in light of Paul’s broader participationist ideals. It is demonstrated that Paul’s eschatology fosters a specific kind of resurrection experience in the present, one that is mapped onto the human body itself and elaborated via an in-out transformative interplay. Finally, ch. 6 offers a synthesis of the argument, scholarly contribution, and suggested avenues for further research.