Die paulinische Rede von den κεκοιµηµένοι – eine tote oder eine lebendige Metapher?

Abstract

The participles κεκοιµηµένοι, κοιµηθέντες and κοιµωµένοι, used by Paul in 1 Thess and 1 Cor as metaphors for dead persons, are often merely taken as a euphemism, simply chosen for stylistic reasons. From the perspective of critical cognitive linguistics you can come up with a more differentiated picture if you discern within these Pauline utterances between lexicalized and innovative metaphors. By using the metaphor “to sleep” for “being dead” in 1 Thess 4,14 Paul can express his emotional sensitivity towards the Thessalonians (1 Thess 4,13), in 1 Thess 4,14–15 he can allude to the Christian belief in resurrection, and his talking of κοιµᾶσθαι ἐν Χριστῷ (1 Cor 15,18.20) might be understood as an innovative metaphor for the so called intermediate state („Zwischenzustand“).