The Language of Gnosis in Contemporary Perspective Cover Image

The Language of Gnosis in Contemporary Perspective
The Language of Gnosis in Contemporary Perspective

Author(s): Mohammad Ali Barzanooni
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion
Published by: Naučnoistraživački institut »Ibn Sina«
Keywords: the language of gnosis; signifier (dāll); signified (madlūl); denotation (dalālat); hermeneutic approach; semantic approach; reciprocal method

Summary/Abstract: The language of gnosis is of significant importance and a contemporary issue in the esoteric level of text interpretation. The research of inner meanings implies methods and approaches by means of which, in the communication with the text, statement or a distinctive written paper, the senses are decoded and the meaning they hold. Following research approaches are possible: a. A hermeneutic approach, in which the focus is on the recipient of the message rather than the speaker’s intention. This is a particular kind of recipient’s dialogue with the text, in order to understand the true meaning of the sentences. b. A semantic approach, in which the speaker’s intention holds the meaning, whereas it is upon the recipient to deduce from what the speaker said and intended. Two methods are important in this approach: “methodological individualism”, which deals with different verbal analogies, linguistic and syntactic principles, with the intent of structural decomposition of the text, and “methodological holism”, which is deductive in nature i.e. leads from the understanding of the entirety to the understanding of individual sentences. c. A reciprocal method, which is engendered by the connection of two approaches, based on one sample and a research program, and where there is an interaction between the speaker and the listener i.e. the writer and the reader. The meaning of the message and the text is the result of methodological reciprocity between the recipient and the text. The speaker’s intention merges with the recipient’s demands. The writer’s i.e. speaker’s intention is revealed through an interactional relation between the reader i.e. text’s recipient i.e. the statement.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 60
  • Page Range: 121-140
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: English