Conceptualizing headship and embodiment in Ephesians : a cognitive-linguistic approach to contexts, construal, and constructed meaning

Abstract

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.Brown, J. S. 2025. Conceptualizing headship and embodiment in Ephesians: A cognitive-linguistic approach to contexts, construal, and constructed meaning. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/843198a7-ef58-4778-9484-2daa8eb1ebf7ENGLISH SUMMARY: The laborious search for the locus of meaning continues to confound philosophers and hermeneuts alike. Cognitive Linguistics’ nascent philosophy of embodied realism promises much by grounding meaning firmly in the body, but the academic polemics continue, and the use of cognitive-linguistic methods has not been widely embraced in theological research. The prominent Conceptual Metaphor and Conceptual Integration Theories have revitalized investigation into the unique and powerful ways humans construct meaning using metaphors. No longer viewed simply as rhetorical device, metaphors are foundational for human creativity and conceptualization and are inextricably pervasive in the hermeneutical effort referred to as reading the Scriptures. In preparation for a journey into the ocean of human meaning-making, this study first considers the implications of embracing epistemic humility towards the frenetic conversation partner found in contemporary cognitive science. The exploration begins with a series of cognitive-linguistic analyses of the profound construal of divinity and humanity found in the metaphors of embodiment and headship in Ephesians 1:22-23—that the universal church is a body with the glorified Jesus Christ as its head. These theologically significant utterances, and the cognitive contexts which make them meaningful, are assessed by handling papyri 46, the oldest extant manuscript containing these linguistic promptings, as a cognitive artefact of live human communication. This study illuminates how the teleological and ontological natures of a mediative Christ are constructed through emergent conceptual metaphors that reach deeply into cultural experiences of beneficent rule, honor, and body. Following from this, emergent blends of divine headship and embodiment are tested for their tectonic characteristics using Robert Masson’s formulation of how metaphoric conceptualizations transform conventionalized ideologies and enable the creation of new knowledge, inferences, and theological truths. A conceptual-integrative analysis of κεφᾰλή is conducted by investigating the meaningful cognitive contexts that substantiate its comprehension and illuminates the ways the human head is the most conceptually important, spiritually significant, physically elevated, vitally crucial, and socially identifiable container of the body. Then, the tectonic activity resulting from the conceptual blends emergent from ΠΡΟΣΕΦΕΣΙΟΥΣ in 46 is measured and verified within the ideological and theological landscapes of Early Christianity. The study then endeavors, laying aside the tools of lexical and conceptual analysis, an investigation of the realities actualized by the body itself. A synthesization of cognitive-scientific research regarding the body’s cognitive sense of self, the spiritual realities experienced in recalled experiences of death, and the epistemics of embodied cognition, establishes that the body is far more capable, implicated, and involved in constructing and interpreting reality than is traditionally believed. To bring the journey to an end, this study posits a hermeneutic of realization which recognizes our bodies not as the prison of creativity, but as the very gift of it.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die moeisame soeke na die kern essensie van betekenis laat filosowe en hermeneute voortdurend kop krap. Kognitiewe linguistiek se ontluikende filosofie van beliggaamde realisme beloof baie deur betekenis stewig in die liggaam te grond, maar akademiese polemiek duur voort, en die gebruik van kognitief-linguistiese metodes is nog nie wyd in teologiese navorsing aanvaar nie. Die prominente teoriee van Konseptuele Metafoor en Konseptuele Integrasie het die ondersoek na die unieke en kragtige maniere waarop mense betekenis deur metafore konstrueer, laat herleef. Metafore word nie langer bloot as retoriese hulpmiddels beskou nie, maar as fundamenteel vir menslike kreatiwiteit en konseptualisering, en is onlosmaaklik verweef in die hermeneutiese poging wat as Skriflesing bekend staan. Ter voorbereiding van 'n reis in die oseaan van menslike betekenisvorming, oorweeg hierdie studie eers die implikasies van die aanvaarding van epistemiese nederigheid teenoor die frenetiese gespreksgenoot wat in die hedendaagse kognitiewe wetenskap gevind word. Die ondersoek begin met 'n reeks kognitief-linguistiese analises van die diepgaande konstruksie van goddelikheid en menslikheid wat in die metafore van beliggaming en hoofskap in Efesiers 1:22-23 gevind word—dat die universele kerk 'n liggaam is met die verheerlikte Jesus Christus as sy hoof. Hierdie teologies beduidende uitsprake, en die kognitiewe kontekste wat hulle betekenisvol maak, word beoordeel deur papirus 46, die oudste bestaande manuskrip wat hierdie taalkundige leidrade bevat. Die papyrus word dus hanteer as 'n kognitiewe artefak van lewende menslike kommunikasie. Hierdie studie werp lig op hoe die teleologiese en ontologiese aard van 'n bemiddelende Christus gekonstrueer word deur opkomende konseptuele metafore wat diep in kulturele ervarings van welwillende heerskappy, eer en liggaam indring. Hierna word die opkomende kruisbestuiwings van goddelike hoofskap en beliggaming getoets vir hul tektoniese kenmerke met behulp van Robert Masson se formulering oor hoe metaforiese konseptualisasies konvensionele ideologiee transformeer, en die skepping van nuwe kennis, afleidings en teologiese waarhede moontlik maak. ’n Konseptueel-integrerende analise van κεφαλή word uitgevoer deur die betekenisvolle kognitiewe kontekste te ondersoek wat die begrip daarvan ondersteun en wat ook lig werp op die maniere waarop die menslike kop die mees konseptueel belangrike, geestelik betekenisvolle, fisies verhewe, lewensbelangrike en sosiaal identifiseerbare houer van die liggaam is. Die tektoniese aktiwiteit wat voortvloei uit die konseptuele mengsels wat in ΠΡΟΣΕΦΕΣΙΟΥΣ in 46 opduik, word gemeet en binne die ideologiese en teologiese landskappe van die vroee Christendom geverifieer. Die studie onderneem dan, nadat die gereedskap van leksikale en konseptuele analise eenkant gesit is, ’n ondersoek na die realiteite wat deur die liggaam self verwerklik word. 'n Sintese van kognitief-wetenskaplike navorsing oor die liggaam se kognitiewe sin van self, die geestelike werklikhede wat ervaar word in herroepde ervarings van dood, en die epistemiek van beliggaamde kognisie, stel vas dat die liggaam baie meer in staat, betrokke en verweef is in die konstruksie en interpretasie van die werklikheid as wat tradisioneel geglo word. Om die reis tot 'n einde te bring, stel hierdie studie 'n hermeneutiek van realisering voor wat ons liggame erken, nie as die tronk van kreatiwiteit nie, maar as die gawe daarvan.Doctora