Cognitive Understanding Of Biblical Parables

Research on biblical parables has long been attracting people's attention. It can be traced back to Augustine of ancient Rome. According to him, each and every element possesses a heavenly meaning. This interpretation has dominated people's understanding of biblical parables for more than 1500 years. As 20th century approached, people started to research from various angles including rhetoric approach, literal approach, cognitive approach etc. There are outstanding figures like Adolf Jülicher, George Lakoff, George Fauconnier, Mark Johnson, and Mark Turner. This paper is trying to approach on biblical parables from a fresh perspective based upon previous scholars'theories.Parable is often referred to as a literary medium which is employed to express teachings. It is a means of implying scheme and purpose by metaphorical expression. More than that, in biblical parables not only morality and teachings about life is concerned, but also deeper meanings such as how we human regenerates, how to live according to God's order and how are we going to be judged in the future are explored. In biblical parables every single one would have a fundamental idea in back. The idea should be: Jesus is God's one and only son who sacrificed himself on cross for human sin; we all going to be judged. Therefore, when interpreting biblical parables, they should not be isolated and confined to mere functional ways. In previous researches, allegorical school tends to focus on assigning meaning to every elements; historical schools would like to rebuild conditions when and where the parables are used; literary school do more on their effects and influence on language and literary works. Each of these methods has its own limitations. It is the emerging of cognitive approach on biblical parables that really pulls up the curtain of researching on human and the physical world. Interactionism and connectionism start to switch our attention to cognitive field. Mental space from Lakoff then thoroughly takes us there, sufficiently integrating our subjective mind with the outside world. Theories like the prototype theory, the conceptual metaphor theory and the conceptual blending theory were a breakthrough for humans. This paper then is branching out thinking based on those great theories.The theoretical framework of this paper is on the basis of the prototype theory and the conceptual blending theory, yet it is not a simple mix of the two, but rather, a harmonious integration of them. In the middle of the 20th century, Wittgenstein researched on"game"and put forward the famous FAMILY RESEMBLANCE which says the boundary of a category can not be clear; central members differ from edge members and something about degree of membership. He held that members are categorized according to resemblance and that members in one category are not equal. FAMILY RESEMBLANCE is actually an inner system of semantic category which makes categorization a cognitive activity. Wittgenstein and his theory have major impact on philosophy, psychology, sociology, linguistic and even the whole natural science. Fauconnier uses mental space to indicate possible world. It can also be a cognitive structure and media for categorization, generalization and thinking. Fauconnier releases conceptual blending theory based upon mental space theory. Generally there would be at least four spaces involved: two input spaces, one generic space and a blend space. Blend space would be in charge of related elements from input spaces and integrate them into a complex one. The four spaces are interrelated by mapping to form a net. Fauconnier and Turner said that language is the outcome of integration. The emergence of those theories contributes a lot to the progress of linguistics and cognitive science.In this paper the prototype meaning and family resemblance of the prototype theory and the generic space as well as blend space of the conceptual blending theory is taken and integrated by the author. Merits of each theory is taken and applied to easy and reasonable understanding of biblical parables, aiming to have easy, simple and sound interpretation. This would not only find out deep meaning hiding behind but also useful for us to understand the application of language and our cognitive mechanism. The prototype meaning would be a start point. As in the parable of Good Samaritan, Prodigal Son, Virgins, Talents and Mustard seed, we have to master the prototype meaning of each elements or character. Good Samaritan stands for entering God's Kingdom with good deed instead of discipline; Prodigal Son for non-believers; Virgins for man looking for Jesus'return; Talent for blessed ability; Mustard Seed for the Kingdom of God. We should know how our mundane words carry those heavenly meanings. Therefore the prototype meaning should be significant. FAMILY RESEMBLANCE then makes our creative generation possible. For example, in the parable of Talent, the ability can be our living ability while may also be our ability to spread the Gospel or to understand God's purpose. As far as we are still adhering to the foundation, FAMILY RESEMBLANCE grants us creativity. Then we go to mental space to confirm our cognition scope and feasibility of creation. In mental space, we know that ability to change the world, to spread the Gospel or interpret God's idea could be in one category though they are abstract enough. By mapping elements into generic space and blend space we got new understanding. Then we should have inspection which makes sure they are still reasonable according to the Bible. The author finds that on the subject of Bible and especially parables therein, combination of ideas of the prototype theory and the conceptual blending theory can be very helpful. They are also useful in researching our language and cognition as well. It would be great if it helps for those who are interested in this area.This paper is just a tentative study on related subjects because of the limitation of time and space. Hopefully in the future the author could do more research in this field and reap more fruit.