Abstrakt: | The aim of the paper is to present the concept of GOD’S FACE functioning as an anthropopathism
in the language of the Old Testament. According to biblical scholars, anthropopathisms
along with anthropomorphisms constitute the metaphorical means for the personification of God
in the Bible. It means that in biblical discourse, God is perceived as a human being by referring
either to His appearance (anthropomorphism), or feelings, attitudes and ways of interaction with
people (anthropopathism). Interestingly, from a linguistic perspective, the concept of FACE may
function in language as a metonymy for emotions. In Anna Wierzbicka’s view, facial paralanguage
replaces the linguistic production and it is possible to talk about “the semantics of facial
expression.” In the Old Testament, the personified God’s facial paralanguage includes showing
and hiding His face, turning it to/against people, as well as looking, listening and eating. Those
descriptions exhibit numerous instances of the application of the concept of GOD’S FACE to
express a variety of God’s feelings and attitudes towards people. The range of God’s emotions
presented in this way involves both positive feelings, such as joy, peace and safety, as well as
the negative ones, such as offence, anger or terror. Moreover, GOD’S FACE teaches and guides
people or judges and destroys them. In addition, it can be observed that THE FACE FOR THE
EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS metonymy co-occurs with such metonymies as THE FACE
for the person, the presence, the personality, and the confrontation with someone, producing
complex interactions of conceptual mappings. |