Papers by Nicole Oesterreich
Cognitive science has shown that the basics of bodily reactions to triggers that threaten or supp... more Cognitive science has shown that the basics of bodily reactions to triggers that threaten or support our survival are common to every human being. However, the specific reaction and identification of a threat are culturally acquired. Thus, emo-tions can be conceptualized as cognitions that are processed according to cognitive schemata. This essay shows that modern cognitive science can contribute to identify and understand cognitive schemata in writings of the 1st century CE and what a “fear schema” of authors and first readers of the New Testament could have looked like.
Grasping Emotions: Approaches to Emotions in Interreligious and Interdisciplinary Discourse, 2024
Cognitive science has shown that the basics of bodily reactions to triggers that threaten or supp... more Cognitive science has shown that the basics of bodily reactions to triggers that threaten or support our survival are common to every human being. However, the specific reaction and identification of a threat are culturally acquired. Thus, emo-tions can be conceptualized as cognitions that are processed according to cognitive schemata. This essay shows that modern cognitive science can contribute to identify and understand cognitive schemata in writings of the 1st century CE and what a “fear schema” of authors and first readers of the New Testament could have looked like.
Forum Exegese und Hochschuldidaktik: Verstehen von Anfang an
Kognitionswissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf biblische Visionserzählungen, Oct 13, 2021
50 Jahre vor Jung-Stillings Theorie der Geister-Kunde veröffentlichte der schwedische Seher Emanu... more 50 Jahre vor Jung-Stillings Theorie der Geister-Kunde veröffentlichte der schwedische Seher Emanuel Swedenborg ein Werk, das sich dem Leben nach dem Tode widmete. Bei der Lektüre des Werkes Jung-Stillings fallen auf den ersten Blick einige Ähnlichkeiten ins Auge. In dieser Arbeit soll deshalb untersucht werden, ob und wenn ja, wie viel Einfluss Swedenborgs Geisterlehre auf die Jung-Stillings hatte. Eine kurze Untersuchung der Wirkungsgeschichte der Theorie der Geister-Kunde soll zur Einordnung dienen.
Drafts by Nicole Oesterreich
Publication by Nicole Oesterreich
J. Herzer/A. Käfer/J. Frey, Die Rede von Jesus Christus als Glaubensaussage, 2018
Conference Presentations by Nicole Oesterreich
Biblical narratives recounting the first visions of prophets or important persons frequently cont... more Biblical narratives recounting the first visions of prophets or important persons frequently content the appearance of an intermediary being like an angel or other inhabitants of heaven. The narratological aim is to prepare the prophet for the essential message or to deliver this message themselves. They act also as guarantors that the message received by the prophet comes from God, which is necessary to proof the truth of the vision in sight of the readers. In my paper I will analyse different calling visions from the Hebrew Bible as well as from the New Testament and texts out of the Jewish-Hellenistic corpus of texts in the way of which intermediary beings play a part, how they are described, and which functions they have in the texts.
(Initiation) Visions through the Lense of Cognitive Philology In Jewish, Greek and Roman Antiquit... more (Initiation) Visions through the Lense of Cognitive Philology In Jewish, Greek and Roman Antiquity, Altered States of Consciousness (ASC) were a typical mode to encounter a deity. Different to former notions of ASC or " ecstatic prophecy " as relics of archaic religions particularly by German biblical scholars, I will argue that narrations of ASC are an essential pattern throughout the bible. Previous definitions of ASC often based only on psychological or ethnological categories, and thus did not recognize cultural elements of ASC. Therefore, in my paper, I will employ a new definition including neuroscientific, philosophical, and cultural aspects. This definition is based on the assumption that ASC are states in which the background mechanisms of the brain tend to produce misrepresentational contents. These background mechanisms of consciousness (e.g. neuro-transmitter systems, osmotic equilibrium, pH) can be influenced by inductions like fasting , sensory and sleep deprivation, constant prayer etc. Misrepresentations are incorrectly processed perceptions like a perception of something that does not exist (hallucinations), a different representation (e.g. illusion) or missing representations of something that does exist (like the complete loss of a sense for the vicinity in very intensive ASC). Narrative depictions of misrepresentations in antique texts often indicate them as being a deviation from everyday experience, a surprise or a miracle. Together with references to inductions , such narrations activated a cognitive scheme in the brains of antique readers, which they generated from other texts containing ASC or their everyday religious environment (e.g., public ecstatic prophecy, initiations to mystery cults, frenzy priests at processions of those religions like the cult of Cybele etc.). The textual basis of my argument are initiation visions like Ez 1:
Books by Nicole Oesterreich
This book is a comprehensive contribution to the ongoing effort to integrate findings in cognitiv... more This book is a comprehensive contribution to the ongoing effort to integrate findings in cognitive science into New Testament studies. Altered states of consciousness are particularly suitable for this attempt as they are a common human property and a widespread religious practice. This study contains an introduction to the basics of philosophy of mind and cognitive studies as well as a hermeneutical reflection. The wide portrayal of ASCs in ancient religious contexts according to the type of induction rituals provides the historic context for the cognitive analysis of the Transfiguration narrative.
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Papers by Nicole Oesterreich
Drafts by Nicole Oesterreich
Publication by Nicole Oesterreich
Conference Presentations by Nicole Oesterreich
Books by Nicole Oesterreich