Abstract / DOI
«And While a Thousand Tears Were Burning / I Felt a World Around Me Come to Be.» Emotions and Religious Experience. Both old and new testament picture God as highly emotional. Also those who experience and worship him are described in all sorts of emotions. Together with the philosophical framework of stoa and neo-platonism early christian theologians adopted their criticism against the sentimental. While scepticism remained, both mystical as well as revivalist movements of the last 500 years shed new light on the deep connection between intellectual and emotional expressions of faith. Holistic and embodied views of religious practice will not only call to no longer exclude feelings from faith, but rather value their inclusion as a direct consequence of the christian doctrine of the incarnation.