The Senses of Scripture Sensory Perception in the Hebrew Bible

by Avrahami, Yael

• ISBN13: 9780567530929
• ISBN10: 0567530922
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-12-22
• Publisher: Bloomsbury T&T Clark

Summary

The Senses of Scripture reveals the essence of biblical epistemology, i.e. they ways in which ancient Israelites thought about and used their sensorium. The theoretical introduction demonstrates that scholars need to liberate themselves from the Western bias that holds a pentasensory paradigm and prioritises the sense of sight. The discussion of the biblical material demonstrates that scholars should follow a similar path. Through examination of associative and contextual patters the author reaches a septasensory model, including sight, hearing, speech, kinaesthesia, touch, taste, and smell. It is further demonstrated that the senses, according to the HB, are a divinely created physical experience, which symbolised man's ability to act in a sovereign manner in the world. Despite the lack of a biblical Hebrew term 'sense', it seems that at times the merism sight and hearing serves that matter. Finally, the book discusses the longstanding dispute regarding the primacy of sight vs. hearing in the HB, and claims that although there is no strict sensory hierarchy evident in the text, sight holds a central space in biblical epistemology.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Abbreviations	p. xiii
List of Tables	p. xvi
Introduction: Common Sense	p. 1
Making Sense of the Sensorium	p. 4
The Sensorium and Cultural-Anthropological Perspective	p. 4
The Sensorium in Biblical Scholarship	p. 17
Biblical Scents, Biblical Smell	p. 19
In Search of the Biblical Mind	p. 22
Theoretical Considerations	p. 31
Cultural Relativism	p. 32
Data and Theory, Who Comes First?	p. 37
On Language and Culture	p. 42
Sensory Experience and the Individual	p. 48
The Hebrew Bible as Cultural Evidence	p. 53
Methodological Considerations	p. 55
Associative Patterns	p. 55
Contextual Patterns	p. 60
Common KnowledgeùCommon Sense	p. 62
Number Our Senses	p. 65
Sight and Hearing	p. 69
Kinaesthesia	p. 75
Speech	p. 84
Taste	p. 93
Olfactory	p. 103
Touch	p. 106
Towards a Septasensory Model	p. 109
The Sensorium: Definition	p. 113
Sense and Soma	p. 114
The Eye	p. 115
The Ear	p. 117
The Foot/Leg	p. 118
The Mouth (Including Tongue, Lips, and Palate)	p. 120
The Nose	p. 124
The Hand	p. 125
Summary	p. 127
Sense and Sovereignty	p. 130
The Power to Help	p. 130
The Power to Harm	p. 141
Learn, Understand, Know	p. 157
Sensory Emotions	p. 163
Moral Judgment	p. 167
Life, Experience, Ability, Autonomy	p. 175
Towards a Definition	p. 183
Theology of the Senses	p. 189
Who Created the Senses?	p. 189
Harming the Senses	p. 96"
Sensory Disabilities	p. 206
Summary	p. 220
Theology and the Sensory Category	p. 221
The Centrality of Sight in Biblical Epistemology	p. 223
Hierarchical Sensorium?	p. 223
Sight and Evidence	p. 225
Sight and Public Evidence	p. 225
Sight and Responsibility	p. 232
Seeing is Believing	p. 238
Sight and Sovereignty	p. 248
Sight as First-Hand Knowledge	p. 248
Sight as Emotional Experience	p. 251
Sight as Life	p. 255
Sight as Subjective Opinion	p. 258
Supreme Sight	p. 263
Sight and Sanity	p. 265
Sight and the Supernatural	p. 266
Sight and Literature	p. 269
Conclusion	p. 274
Conclusion: The Senses of Scripture	p. 277
Bibliography	p. 280
Index of References	p. 293
Index of Authors	p. 309
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