Heart and mind; ancient and modern psychology

A salutary reminder of the pitfalls of direct translation, sometimes.

In modern Western psychology, the heart is the seat of the emotions or affections. Thus, when most of us read that David was a man after God’s own heart, we tend to think that that meant that David had a profound love for God. They then wonder how it was that David was able to commit adultery and murder. Now, I have no doubt that David had a profound love for God. And it is possible for a man truly converted to commit heinous sins. But David’s being a man after God’s own heart had nothing to do with his love for God. Rather, it had to do with his, as it were, thinking like God, or thinking God’s thoughts after him, or seeing things from God’s perspective. Thus, when Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," he was saying that those who have the mind of God to the greatest degree have the clearest vision of him.... As for the Semitic view of the seat of the emotions, that is always the "innards." The most common term used is the "kidneys" or "reins." "Bones" is another term used in this sense. These terms appear frequently in the Psalms when the psalmist speaks of his torment of soul. For example, Psalm 6:2 says, "Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled."

This has interesting ramifications for the debate on headship. Since the head is not the decision making organ in this kind of metaphoric anthropology...
Aramaic Thoughts with Benjamin Shaw on StudyLight.org

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