Since the 1990s, research on the Old Testament has shown growing interest in questions concerning emotions; however, most biblical texts have not yet been examined from this perspective. The project The Power of Emotions and the Status of Female Characters in Different Literary Genres of the Old Testament, involving eleven researchers from the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Theology; two researchers from ZRC SAZU; and one researcher from ZRS Koper, aims to at least partially fill these gaps. Because female Old Testament characters have played a more modest role in the history of interpretation, priority is given to them in the selection of texts for detailed analysis.

Objectives: The project The Power of Emotions and the Status of Female Characters in Different Literary Genres of the Old Testament has two fully interconnected objectives:

• the study of the nature and role of emotions in different literary types and genres of the Old Testament, such as narratives, historical books, prophetic speeches, wisdom literature genres, and prayers in the form of psalms;
• the study of female Old Testament characters who have not yet received comprehensive in-depth treatment, from the perspectives of their social status and their inner lives.

The study of emotions and the status of female characters is based on the unique characteristics of Old Testament thinking about the human person and human nature, taking into account the Hebrews’ understanding of the body and the spiritual world, as well as the characteristics of their way of life (anthropological aspects).

Methodology: The interaction of philological analysis of the semantic fields of vocabulary expressing emotions; etymology; literary analysis; gender studies; the social history of women; biblical and philosophical traditions; the historical-anthropological approach; form criticism; genre theory; and cognitive metaphor theory enables a comprehensive approach to the analysis of selected texts. Such a comprehensive approach means that the texts are not treated merely as material for reconstructing the history of ancient Israel, but primarily as multivalent literary creations.

Significance:

• The project will help fill major gaps in previous research concerning how the ancient Israelites understood and experienced emotions and what role emotions played in their lives.
• It will constitute the first comprehensive study of the ways in which emotions such as love, desire, sorrow, joy, fear, and others are expressed across all major books and genres of the Old Testament. In doing so, it will make an important contribution not only to Old Testament studies, Judaism, religious studies, and theology, but also to historiography and social and cultural history.
• By comparing the semantic fields of emotion-related vocabulary in the original texts with those in standard European and Slovene translations of the Bible, the project opens new avenues for understanding the linguistic and spiritual foundations of the development of the Slovene language, literature, and culture in general.