volume 7, issue 2, 2015, pages 265-282

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsGBEV5274
Published online: 2015-12-01
Published in print: 2015-12-30

Abstract: The study contributes to the debate about the correlation of key biblical concepts of perfection and mercy that are conventionally understood in isolation. The application of the concept of integrity to selected biblical characters is initially studied from the canonical perspective. Subsequently, the openness of the given character to mercy-showing is evaluated with the aid of general categories of psychology (consistency, empathy, active sympathy), and an assumed correlation of integrity and mercy is considered. The synchronic reading of biblical texts shows that the action of mercy in biblical anthropology, as in psychology, is conditioned by the integrity of the personality. Authentic imitation of God’s mercy requires the process of integration, inner wholeness, with the cognitive and emotive acceptance of own limitation.