"Rebirth" in the New Testament Writings. A new approach using Metaphor Theory after 100 years of history of research

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Ursula Ulrike Kaiser
• Subject Area: Protestant Theology
• Term: from 2014 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 255986098

To speak of "rebirth" concerning the present life of human beings means to speak metaphorically. In modern language, "rebirth" is mainly used when talking about experiences of wellness or the revival of political entities. In Christian contexts "rebirth" is almost exclusively used by evangelical, Pentecostal denominations to describe the personal experience of conversion and the following life as a "reborn Christian". The usual reference to New Testament texts--especially to the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus on the necessity of "being born from above" (John 3)--is thereby rather selective and limited. The previous exegetical research has also not been able to uncover the rich potential which lies behind the metaphorical speech of "rebirth" in the New Testament texts. This project therefore applies first of all an analytical view to describ--for the first time at all--he history of research on the (rather unclear) subject of "rebirth". In accordance with the metaphorical character of "rebirth" this is done by applying metaphor theory, especially "Conceptual Metaphor Theory" by Lakoff and Johnson. With the help of this new methodological approach it is possible to show that the present research has an only superficially clear notion of "rebirth" and summarises different problems under this headline, mixing together texts with different metaphors. Following the deconstruction of the term "rebirth", a new formulation of the research problem based on metaphor theory can be undertaken: The leading concept is not "rebirth" but birth or generation. It is used in John 3; First Peter 1:3, 23; Titus 3:5 and James 1:18 as a metaphorical source domain to describe an event in the life of the addressed people which is connected with their becoming believers in Christ. With the metaphorical use of birth or generation a new experience was expressed for which there were no words so far (cf. the catachrestic potential of metaphors). The concrete aspects which are expressed by the metaphorical expressions in the texts go well beyond a basic notion of becoming new. In fact due to the metaphorical birth they describe a hereditary title (of eternal life; cf. 1 Peter), or a newly gained belonging to a family or nation (cf. 1 Peter; John), or an inherited nature or determination which is planted into the "newly begotten" human beings (cf. John; James). By outlining those manifold potentials of meaning of the texts, this project makes (1.) an exegetical contribution to the interpretation of those texts. This contribution is (2.) of theological relevance because it revitalizes an important biblical metaphor. This project makes (3.) a methodological contribution to the current discussion about metaphors in the humanities and reflects (4.) hermeneutically on the relation between theological descriptive language and primary sources.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants