On Sun 6 Aug 2000 (08:21:11), thmann@juno.com wrote: > ... ... How do we get from kidneys to minds? I read > somewhere that people of "olden days" believed that various human > emotions and traits emanated from different organs in the body. Is > this true? Was that Paul's understanding when he so often used the term > KARDIA? For example, when he says: "... their foolish hearts were > darkened" (Rom.1:21), did he believe that the human condition he is > describing somehow involved the human organ called the heart? Mounce > says that the heart was "regarded as the seat of feeling, impulse, > affection, desire..." Ted, The ancients were not clear about the functions of the various bodily offals. We need not be surprised. It was only recently that the medical profession discovered the circulation of the blood! And until recently, our personalities were thought to be determined by the proportions of the "Four Humours" of Sanguine, Phlegm, Choler and Melancholy in out bodies. The renes or reins (kidneys) were considered to be the seat of the affections, and the heart to be the seat of thought and will. The Psalmist invites God to examine his emotions (motives) and his thought processes in Psalm 26:2 (25:2 LXX): DOKIMASON ME, KURIE, KAI PEIRASON ME, PURWSON TOUS NEFROUS MOU KAI THN KARDIAN MOU. Jeremiah 17:10 has YHWH saying "EGW KURIOS ETAZWN KARDIAS, KAI DOKIMAZWN NEFROUS, TOU DOUNAI hEKASTWi ... ktl". See also Jeremiah 20:12. We need look no further than this to see where John got his phraseology from in Revelation 2:23. Compare the putative role of the SPLACK in showing compassion and sympathy: SPLANGCNISQEIS hH IESOUS in Matthew 20:34. Jeremiah cries THN KOILIAN MOU, THN KOILIAN MOU ALGW, KAI TA AISQHTERIA THS KARDIAS MOU... (Jeremiah 4:19). Paul knew the proper medical function of the KOILIA in 1 Corinthians 6:13, but none of the GNT writers ever seem to associate the Brain with thought processing. "Thought" is always located in the Heart: Matthew 9:4; Luke 2:35, 5:22, 24:38. And Luke was a Physician (Colossians 4:14)! We still use the phrase "to learn something by heart". So Paul refers to the "work of the Law written in their hearts" in Romans 2:15. My thoughts... ERRWSQE, Ben -- Revd Ben Crick, BA CF 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK) http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm --- B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [jwrobie@mindspring.com] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu