Under the working title “Empathic Relationships and the Old Testament: An Approach,” the ongoing habilitation project asks: What can Old Testament texts, their ancient world, and their history contribute to the lively discourse on empathy in our time? And where can this discourse in turn be fruitful for understanding ancient texts and their ideas of mutual understanding between people, for whom empathy phenomena are fundamentally and universally important?
For this purpose, the research history, methodological, and hermeneutical foundations of a connection between modern empathy discourse and ancient or Old Testament literature are first laid.
In the main exegetical section, aspects of the semantics of empathy phenomena in Old Testament texts are first explored in overview. An overview and examples of the semantics of empathy provide initial insight into the basic principles of empathy discourse in Old Testament texts, which are summarized here and examined in more detail in the following exegeses in selected text passages, where their contexts are also explored. With the overview of the history of discourse on empathy and also in view of common everyday understandings of empathy, the study of Old Testament texts reveals an interesting focus on various points, some of which also correspond to recent developments in modern empathy research. Overall, in line with the close connection between the physical and social spheres, which is important in Old Testament anthropology, and the subordinate significance of container imagery for the body and its interactions with the outside world, “inner life” and the associated imagery of immersion are less central to Old Testament thinking about empathy. Rather, the focus of understanding and communication is on what can be perceived externally: movements, gestural/mimetic expressions, actions, speech—in general, embodied phenomena of empathy dynamics. This does not mean that the inner self of a person is meaningless in relation to the outside world. Although the various internal organs, the “inner self” of human beings, are not the primary source of emotion and empathy, they are a space in which processes important for empathy dynamics take place: processing, imagination, and responsiveness, not least also through God.
Another important point is the much stronger emphasis on structural, social, and collective aspects of empathy, as opposed to an understanding of empathy that focuses heavily on the feelings, experiences, abilities of the individual, and processes within them. In addition to the interaction of two or three individuals as a field of action for empathy, the significance of empathy for processes of community building and group formation, inclusion and exclusion, and positioning within the larger relationship between humans, fellow humans, the environment, and God becomes crucial. This also includes broadening the horizon from individual situations, e.g., the encounter between two or more individuals in which empathy can occur, to processes spanning longer periods of time: empathizing with previous or future generations, but also the refusal of empathy as a refusal of a historically expanded view and thus a rejection of learning processes, as discussed, for example, in the prophetic writings.
The exemplary texts selected in the main part of the work (the so-called succession story and excerpts from Jeremiah) provide insight into how empathy dynamics can be uncovered and evaluated in ancient texts. The selected text complexes bring various genres, diachronic developments, and diverse thematic areas into focus, for which access via empathy dynamics promises new insights.
