Subproject B03

Metaphors of the Self: On the Connection between Self-Constitution and Religion in the Hebrew Bible

This project focuses body-related metaphors from the Hebrew Bible, particularly from Psalms, Job, Jeremiah and Lamentations. Employing these metaphors, these texts contribute to the emergence of an inner self related to individuality, personhood, self-reflection, morality, etc. The project addresses the correlation of the emergence of an “inner-self” and “religion”. It hypothesizes that through the increasing constitution of an "inside", imagined as not permeable but self-contained, processes of individualization and, in connection with this, the axial emergence of religious individuality are intensified.