Metanoia (theology)

All three synoptic gospels refer to "metanoia", as does the Acts of the Apostles, and there are a number of occasions in the New Testament letters where the word is used.Englishman's Concordance, [https://biblehub.com/greek/3341.htm 3341. metanoia], accessed 20 August 2022 Modern English Bible translations use the word "repentance" for both the Greek words metanoia and metamelomai. The former term is so translated almost ten times as often as the latter.[https://bible.org/seriespage/3-new-testament-repentance-lexical-considerations Wilkin, Robert N. "New Testament Repentance: Lexical Considerations", Bible.org] The noun metanoia/μετάνοια, is translated "repentance", and its cognate verb metanoeō/μετανοέω is translated "repent" in twenty two instances in the King James Version of the New Testament.

Abid Rogers Bhatti in his book A Textbook of Soteriology writes about the meaning of metanoia/μετάνοια. In the Bible translations into Hindi and Urdu, the word for “repentance” is toba. Toba means regret, grief, and sorrow over sinful deeds that lead to a change of mind and life. Abid agrees with TertullianEdward J Anton, Repentance: A Cosmic Shift of Mind and Heart (Discipleship Publications, 2005) 32-33. in preferring "conversion" rather than "repentance" to translate metanoia/μετάνοια in Mark 1:4. In summary, Abid believes that "conversion" (rather than "repentance") is the best English word to express the meaning of the Greek metanoia/μετάνοια.{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}}

The Greek Orthodox Church in America teaches the following:{{blockquote|The Greek term metanoia denotes a change of mind, a reorientation, a fundamental transformation of outlook, of man's vision of the world and of himself, and a new way of loving others and God. In the words of a second-century text, The Shepherd of Hermas, it implies "great understanding", or discernment.Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, [http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith8493 "Repentance and Confession"]}}

Metanoia "... was used consistently in the literature of that time to express a fundamental change in thinking that leads to a fundamental change in behavior and/or way of living".Nave, Guy, The Role and function of Repentance in Luke-Acts, Society of Biblical Literature, 2002 In 2006, an ecumenical group of scholars published a study of repentance in the Bible and the Church. After "a thorough examination of Hellenistic Jewish writings", the study found that for Jews living at the time of Jesus, "repentance" meant "a fundamental change in thinking and living". For the New Testament, this change is a necessary ingredient in accomplishing God's plan for salvation for community and for everyone.Mark J. Boda and Gordon T. Smith, eds., Repentance in Christian Theology (Michael Glazier, 2006), 90, 95.

The non-canonical Acts of Peter ties metanoia to the cross on which Peter was crucified. While Peter was being crucified, he explained parts of the cross from which he was hanging, including "the nail which holds the cross beam to the upright in the middle". This nail is "the conversion [epistrophē] and repentance [metanoia] of man."J. K. Elliott, editor, The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation (Oxford University Press, 2005), 425. Greek words inserted.

According to Robert N. Wilkin, "The Latin Fathers translated metanoia as paenitentia, which came to mean "penance" or "acts of penance"." Tertullian protested the unsuitable translation of the Greek metanoeo into the Latin paenitentiam ago by arguing that "in Greek, metanoia is not a confession of sins but a change of mind." "Conversion" (from the Latin conversiōn-em turning round) with its "change in character" meaning is more nearly the equivalent of metanoia than repentance.{{cite web|url=http://0-www.oed.com.librarycatalog.vts.edu/view/Entry/40773?redirectedFrom=conversion|title=Millennium Web Catalog|publisher=Oed.com.librarycatalog.vts.edu|accessdate=14 November 2014}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

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The Merriam-Webster Dictionary transliterates the Greek μετάνοια into metanoia and borrowing it as an English word with a definition that matches the Greek: "a transformative change of heart; especially: a spiritual conversion", augmented by an explanation of metanoia's Greek source: "from metanoiein to change one's mind, repent, from meta- + noein to think, from nous mind''".[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metanoia "Metanoia", Merriam-Webster]

Synonyms for "conversion" include "change of heart" and "metanoia".{{cite web|url=http://thesaurus.com/browse/conversion|title=Conversion Synonyms, Conversion Antonyms|work=Thesaurus.com|accessdate=14 November 2014}}

In opposition to the Church's interpretation of metanoia as comprising contrition, confession, and penances, Martin Luther objected that it retained its classical sense of "a change of mind."Luther's Works, Vol. 48, Letters (May 30, 1518 Letter to John von Staupitz), 65-70. For John Staupitz, "... metanoia can be derived, though not without violence, not only from post and mentem, but also from trans and mentem, so that metanoia signifies a changing of the mind and heart, because it seemed to indicate not only a change of the heart, but also a manner of changing it, i.e., the grace of God."[http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/nine5-staupitz.txt "Letter of John Staupitz Accompanying the "Resolutions" to the XCV Theses by Dr. Martin Luther, 1518", Works of Martin Luther, (Adolph Spaeth, L.D. Reed, Henry Eyster Jacobs, et Al., Trans. & Eds.), (Philadelphia: A. J. Holman Company, 1915), Volume 1, pp. 39-43] Metanoia is a concept of fundamental character for Luther, as it marks the ground of the first of his 95 theses.

John Calvin pointed to the double derivation of the Hebrew and Greek words for "repentance": the Hebrew derives from conversion, or turning again, and the Greek means a change of mind and purpose. The meaning of the word, for Calvin, is appropriate to both derivations because repentance (a) involves "withdrawing from ourselves", (b) turning to God, (c) "laying aside the old", and (d) putting on "a new mind".John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 3. 3. 1–16.

Gregory Martin, the translator of the Douay-Rheims, argued in chapter 13 of his work A Discovery of the Manifold Corruptions of Scripture for the translation of "penance". He based his conclusions on the writings of the church fathers and the awkward sentences that other readings lead to.Gregory Martin, [http://www.catholicapologetics.info/scripture/translations/data/ADISCOVERY_Print.html#ch13 A Discovery of the Manifold Corruptions of Scripture]

In his 1881 The Great Meaning of the Word Metanoia, Treadwell Walden, Episcopal priest and sometime rector of St. Paul's Church, Boston, designated cathedral of the diocese in 1912, asserts that metanoia conveys the essence of the Christian gospel. Walden holds that the meaning of the Greek metanoia is very different from the meaning of the English "repentance". He describes the translation of metanoia as repentance as "an extraordinary mistranslation". Walden believed the meaning of metanoia as a "transmutation" of consciousness contrasted with classical Greek which he viewed as expressing a superficial change of mind.[https://archive.org/stream/greatmeaningofme00waldiala#page/n3/mode/2up Treadwell Walden, The Great Meaning of the Word Metanoia: Lost in the Old Version, Unrecovered in the New, p. 24, (Thomas Whittaker, 1896)] Walden sought to promote the proper meaning of metanoia as "change of Mind, a change in the trend and action of the whole inner nature, intellectual, affectional and moral" over against its translation as repentance.Treadwell Walden, The Great Meaning of the Word Metanoia: Lost in the Old Version, Unrecovered in the New. (Thomas Whittaker, 1896), 1, 3–4, 8–9. Available online in Google Books.

In Repentance: A Cosmic Shift of Mind and Heart, Edward J.Anton observes that in most dictionaries and in the minds of most Christians the primary meaning of "repent" is to look back on past behavior with sorrow, self-reproach, or contrition, sometimes with an amendment of life. But neither Jesus nor John the Baptist says to look back in sorrow. For St Paul, "metanoia is a transfiguration for your brain" that opens a new future.Anton, Edward J. Repentance: A Cosmic Shift of Mind and Heart (Discipleship Publications, 2005) 31–32.

It was in its use in the New Testament and in writings grounded in the New Testament that the depth of metanoia increased until, in the words of Archbishop Richard C. Trench, it came "to express that mighty change in mind, heart, and life wrought by the Spirit of God".Richard C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament (Macmillan, 1880, 9th edition) 255–261. Available online in Google Books.

Scholar J. Glentworth Butler says that, in the Greek, there is none of the sorrow or regret contained in the words repentance and repent. Repentance denotes "sorrow for what one has done or omitted to do; especially, contrition for sin."{{cite web|url=http://machaut.uchicago.edu/websters|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710101105/http://machaut.uchicago.edu/websters|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 July 2012|title=Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) – The ARTFL Project|publisher=Machaut.uchicago.edu|accessdate=14 November 2014}} Repent primarily means "to review one's actions and feel contrition or regret for something one has done or omitted to do"{{cite web|url=http://0-www.oed.com.librarycatalog.vts.edu/view/Entry/162742?rskey=ghBlmx&result=4|title=Millennium Web Catalog|publisher=Oed.com.librarycatalog.vts.edu|accessdate=14 November 2014}} Therefore, Butler asserts that translating metanoeō/μετανοέω and metanoia/μετάνοια as repent and repentance constitute "an utter mistranslation" that translators excuse by the fact that no English word can adequately convey the meaning of the Greek words.Butler, J. Glentworth. Topical Analysis of the Bible (Butler Bible Work Co, 1897), 443. Available in Google Books.

A. T. Robertson concurs with Butler. Regarding the translation of metanoia as repentance, Robertson calls it "a linguistic and theological tragedy".{{cite web|author=A. T. Robertson|title=Word Pictures in the New Testament – 2 Corinthians|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/robertson_at/wp_2cor.pdf|location=Grand Rapids, Missouri|publisher=Christian Classics Ethereal Library|number=29|accessdate=14 November 2014}} Regarding John the baptizer's call to "repent" as a translation of the Greek metanoeite, Robertson quotes Broadus as saying that this is "the worst translation in the New Testament". Repent means "to be sorry", but John's call was not to be sorry, but to change mental attitudes [metanoeite] and conduct.{{cite web|author=A. T. Robertson|title=Word Pictures in the New Testament – Matthew|location=Grand Rapids, Missouri|publisher=Christian Classics Ethereal Library|number=53|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/robertson_at/wp_matt.pdf|accessdate=14 November 2014}} Robertson lamented the fact that in his time there was no English word that signified the meaning of the Greek μετάνοια (metanoia).{{cite web|author=A. T. Robertson|title=Word Pictures in the New Testament – Matthew |location=Grand Rapids, Missouri|publisher=Christian Classics Ethereal Library|number=53|url= http://www.ccel.org/ccel/robertson_at/wp_matt.pdf|accessdate=14 November 2014}}

Aloys H. Dirksen in his The New Testament Concept of Metanoia argues against metanoia as merely "repentance" and for metanoia as "conversion".D. Tarrant, review of The New Testament Concept of Metanoia (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America, 1932.) in Classical Review 47:4 (1933). Others have characterized the translation of metanoia/μετάνοια as "repentance" with similar negativity: Herbert George Marsh states that "repentance" is an "unsuitable" translation,[https://www.myprimitivemethodists.org.uk/content/people-2/primitive_methodist_ministers/m-2/marsh-herbert-george-m-a-d-d-1889-1991 Herbert George Marsh], The Origin and Significance of the New Testament Baptism (Manchester University Press, 1941), 43. and James Hastings and others consider it "totally inadequate" as a word to carry the meaning of metanoia.James Hastings and others, Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics: Vol 10 (Scribner's, 1919), s.v. "Repentance", 733.

Of the top ten versions of the Bible in the United States based on unit sales, seven read "baptism of repentance" in Mark 1:4 in which "repentance" translates metanoia.{{cite web|url=http://www.cbaonline.org/nm/documents/bsls/bible_translations.pdf |title=CBA Best Sellers |publisher=CBAonline.org |date=Feb 2013 |accessdate=2013-02-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002092014/http://www.cbaonline.org/nm/documents/BSLs/Bible_Translations.pdf |archivedate=2008-10-02 }} Three of the ten top-selling versions and another in the top-ten based on dollar sales attempt to capture the meaning of metanoia. None of them transliterate the Greek μετἀνοια as metanoia.{{cite web|url=http://www.biblestudytools.com/mark/1-4-compare.html|title=Mark 1:4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert region – Online Bible Study Tools|work=BibleStudyTools.com|accessdate=14 November 2014}}

• New Living Translation: "baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God"
• Common English Bible: "baptized to show that they were changing their hearts and lives"
• New International Readers Version: "baptized and turn away from their sins"
• The Message: "a baptism of life-change"

In spite of these efforts, Robert N. Wilkin forecasts that "repentance" as a translation for metanoia will likely continue in most English translations. He, therefore, advises readers to substitute "change of mind" for the words repentance and repent.{{cite web|author=Robert N. Wilkin|title= Repentance and Salvation Part 3: New Testament Repentance: Lexical Considerations|publisher=Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society|volume=Autumn 1989 2:2|url=http://www.faithalone.org/journal/1989ii/Wilkin.html|accessdate=14 November 2014}}

In its Confirmation exegesis, the Minnehaha United Methodist Church of Minneapolis, Minnesota notes,

Metanoia is used to refer to the change of mind which is brought about in repentance. Repentance is necessary and valuable because it brings about change of mind or metanoia. This change of mind will make the changed person hate sin and love God. The two terms (repentance and metanoia) are often used interchangeably. "Meta-" is additionally used to imply "beyond" and "outside of". E.g., ... metaphysics as outside the limits of physics. The word metanoia has taken on an in-vogue usage among interfaith dialogues as simply meaning "a change of heart". Though this is close to its Christian theological meaning, perhaps one may conclude that metanoia is "taking one's mind/thoughts beyond and outside of one's habituations." Yes, English translators of the Christian Scriptures fail to find a proper corresponding word for metanoia, so they fall back upon the comfort and ease of the word repent. Yet repent carries with it a negative tone, almost an inhibition caused by guilt; metanoia forces a positive, proactive life-affirming response. When Jesus calls people to "repent", to "metanoia", could it be that he means: "Change your thought processes and go beyond your mind's present state of limitations"? Does this not mandate self-assessment and interpersonal acceptance?[http://www.minnehaha.org/Confirm/MC101.pdf "Confirmation 101", Minnehaha United Methodist Church of Minneapolis, Minnesota]

Charles Taylor defines metanoia as "to change one's mind of attitude" and builds his pastoral counseling method on the "metanoia model." In doing so, Taylor recalls that the center of Jesus' ministry was a call to metanoia.Charles Taylor The Skilled Pastor (Augsburg Fortress, 1991), 8, 64. For Milton Crum, metanoia means "a change of perception with its behavioral fruit." Thus, metanoia constitutes the central thing that needs to happen in preaching.Milton Crum, Manual on Preaching (Judson, 1977 and Morehouse, 1988) 101 Peter Senge observes that what happens in a "learning organization" that experiences the "deeper meaning of 'learning'" is "metanoia" which means "a shift of mind". Therefore, concludes Senge, "to grasp the meaning of 'metanoia' is to grasp the deeper meaning of 'learning'."Peter M. Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization (Doubleday, 2006), 13. Also Peter M. Senge, "Metanoia—A Shift of Mind" in The Jossey-Bass Reader on Educational Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 2nd ed, 2006)

Ulrich Wilckens finds in Peter's sermon in Acts 2:38–40 as narrated by Luke the Evangelist, six steps that are required for a person's salvation. Metanoia is step number one and is essential because the other steps are contingent on a person's experiencing metanoia. Wilckens believes that this is the normative way to salvation in Luke's theology.François Bovon, Luke the Theologian: fifty-five years of research, 1950–2005 (Baylor University, 2006), 314.

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{{further|Prostration#Christianity}}

The theological concept is linked with Christian prayer, in which a prostration is called a metanoia, with "the spiritual condition of one's soul being expressed through the physical movement of falling facedown before the Lord" as seen in the biblical passages of {{Bibleverse|Matthew|2:11|KJV}}, {{Bibleverse|Luke|5:12|KJV}}, and {{Bibleverse|Luke|17:15-16|KJV}}.

In Oriental Orthodox Christianity and Western Orthodox Christianity, believers make metanoias (prostrations) during the seven fixed prayer times; prayer rugs are used by some adherents to provide a clean space for believers to offer their Christian prayers to God, e.g. the canonical hours.{{cite web |author1=Bishop Brian J Kennedy, OSB |title=Importance of the Prayer Rug |url=https://www.stfinian.com/importance-of-the-prayer-rug-in-the-celtic-orthodox-church |publisher=St. Finian Orthodox Abbey |access-date=25 July 2020 |language=en |archive-date=25 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725141343/https://www.stfinian.com/importance-of-the-prayer-rug-in-the-celtic-orthodox-church |url-status=dead }} Oriental Orthodox Christians, such as Copts, incorporate metanoias in their prayers that are performed facing eastward in anticipation of the Second Coming of Jesus, making metanoias thrice in the name of the Trinity; at the conclusion of every Psalm (when saying ‘Alleluia’); and forty-one times for the Kyrie eleisons (cf. Agpeya).{{cite web |last1=Kosloski |first1=Philip |title=Did you know Muslims pray in a similar way to some Christians? |url=https://aleteia.org/2017/10/16/did-you-know-muslims-pray-in-a-similar-way-to-some-christians/ |publisher=Aleteia |access-date=25 July 2020 |language=en |date=16 October 2017}}{{cite web |last1=Dawood |first1=Bishoy |title=Stand, Bow, Prostrate: The Prayerful Body of Coptic Christianity : Clarion Review |url=https://www.clarionreview.org/2013/12/stand-bow-prostrate-the-prayerful-body-of-coptic-christianity |publisher=Clarion Review |access-date=27 July 2020 |language=en |date=8 December 2013}} Syriac Orthodox and Indian Orthodox Christians, as well as Christians belonging to the Mar Thoma Syrian Church (an Oriental Protestant denomination), make multiple metanoias at the seven fixed prayer times during which the canonical hours are prayed, thrice during the Qauma prayer, at the words "Crucified for us, Have mercy on us!", thrice during the recitation of the Nicene Creed at the words "And was incarnate of the Holy Spirit...", "And was crucified for us...", & "And on the third day rose again...", as well as thrice during the Prayer of the Cherubim while praying the words "Blessed is the glory of the Lord, from His place forever!" (cf. Shehimo).{{cite book |title=Shehimo: Book of Common Prayer |date=2016 |publisher=Diocese of South-West America of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church |pages=5, 7, 12|language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=William Joseph |title=The Indian Christians of St. Thomas: Otherwise Called the Syrian Christians of Malabar: a Sketch of Their History and an Account of Their Present Condition as Well as a Discussion of the Legend of St. Thomas |date=1908 |publisher=Bemrose |page=99|language=en}} Oriental Catholic and Oriental Protestant rites also use metanoias in a similar way as the Oriental Orthodox Churches.{{cite web |last1=Landy |first1=Thomas M. |title=Syro-Malabar Catholics worship eastward |url=https://www.catholicsandcultures.org/india/syro-malabar-church/syro-malabar-worship |publisher=Catholics & Cultures |access-date=21 August 2020 |language=en |date=11 February 2014 |quote=At Syro-Malabar liturgies, men and women generally separate into different sides of the church. Shoes are left outside of church, and prayer rugs cover the floor.}}

Among Old Ritualists, a prayer rug known as the Podruchnik is used to keep one's face and hands clean during metanoias, as these parts of the body are used to make the sign of the cross.{{cite web |last1=Basenkov |first1=Vladimir |title=Vladimir Basenkov. Getting To Know the Old Believers: How We Pray |url=https://orthochristian.com/104149.html#_ftnref3 |publisher=Orthodox Christianity |access-date=25 July 2020 |language=en |date=10 June 2017}}

Philo (c. 25 BC – c. 50 AD) depicted metanoia as "in heaven, a beautiful and especially good daughter of the Most High." There, "she entreats God Most High hourly" on behalf of people.Patrick Gray, Gail R. O'Day, eds., Scripture and Traditions: Essays on Early Judaism and Christianity in Honor of Carl R. Holladay (Brill, 2008) 80-81.

In Classical Greek, metanoia meant changing one's mind about someone or something. When personified, Metanoia was a figure of unclear description who accompanied Kairos, the god of Opportunity, and ultimately inspired human individuals to deep changes in their normal consciousness modes; a feeling of personal regret would provide the emotional catalyst to approach life with a substantially different perspective.

This conventional portrayal continued through the Renaissance. "Regret, reflection, and transformation are always present in the concept of metanoia to some degree,” writes scholar Kelly Myers.Myers, Kelly A., [http://www4.uwm.edu/c21/pdfs/events/mueller_myers_metanoia.pdf "Metanoia and the Transformation of Opportunity"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408102547/http://www4.uwm.edu/c21/pdfs/events/mueller_myers_metanoia.pdf |date=2014-04-08 }}, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 1, pp. 1–18

{{Portal|Christianity}}

• Genuflection
• Kneeling
• Metania (bow)
• Metanoia (rhetoric)

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• [https://www.lacopts.org/story/prostrations-according-to-the-coptic-orthodox-church-rite/ Prostrations according to the Coptic Orthodox Church Rite]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd66Zx8ED90 The making of metanoias (prostrations) in Coptic Orthodox Christianity]

• {{cite book | last=Avanessian | first=Armen | last2=Hennig | first2=Anke | title=Metanoia: A Speculative Ontology of Language, Thinking, and the Brain | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | publication-place=London New York (N.Y.) | date=2019-08-08 | isbn=978-1-350-00473-3 | author-link1 = Armen Avanessian | author-link2 = Anke Hennig }}

Category:New Testament Greek words and phrases