Creation conjures emotion and thereby shapes how we think and act. People fear snakes and enclosed spaces, and delight in well-watered landscapes. Language about nature evokes these emotional meanings and their consequences. We may construe nature as a mother to enhance love of creation and motivate care for our common home. Mother nature becomes a caregiving source of life rather than an inert resource. Alternatively, we may focus on the dangers or uselessness of a swamp so that we may drain it and plant crops. Creation and the ways we speak about it reflect and shape emotion and influence behavior. Every reference to the natural word in biblical literature involves some emotional resonance. Any animal might have intruded into the paradise of Eden, but the biblical narrative gives this role to a snake. The serpent elicits ominous foreboding because snakes evoke fear and fascination. Isaiah amplifies the joy of Israel's restoration by depicting deserts transforming into fertile fields and creation itself rejoicing. Biblical authors draw on human emotional responsiveness to creation to express and elicit emotions. David A. Bosworth analyzes how biblical texts use creation to conjure emotion. He draws on the science of emotion, including research on human emotional responsiveness to nature. Ancient texts correlate with contemporary research on how human environments shape emotion and behavior. The chapters unfold how specific emotions emerge from biblical references to aspects of creation.
David Bosworth is associate professor of Old Testament at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He earned his PhD in biblical studies from Catholic University in 2003. He taught at Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida, before returning Catholic University as faculty in 2008. His scientifically engaged research and writing focus on emotion in the Bible, including two books and several articles on weeping.
Introduction 1. Love and Grief 2. Surprise and Fear 3. Disgust and Anger 4. Pride and Shame 5. Joy and Awe Conclusion
Throughout his career, David Bosworth has conducted some of the best studies of biblical emotion. Now he opens new horizons in this innovative study. Allowing readers to see the close relationships between creation and emotion, he deeply enriches each area of study. This is exegesis at its finest! --Matthew R. Schlimm, University of Dubuque Theological Seminary Bosworth's groundbreaking study demonstrates that the Bible makes no sense without understanding emotion and that the source of much emotion in the Bible comes from its various depictions of creation. From grief and fear to joy and awe, the full spectrum of emotions is evoked by the poetic power of the prophets, psalmists, and sages. This important study highlights the relational nature of creation as a counter to Westernized thinking, which tends to view nature only mechanistically. --William P. Brown, Columbia Theological Seminary
