Emotions in the Bible

Guest: Heather Seferovich, Curator of the Education in Zion Gallery, BYU; Emily Darowski, Psychology Librarian, Harold B. Lee Library, BYU Anger, surprise, happiness, disgust, sadness and fear are the basic human emotions psychologists believe are universally recognized across cultures. So, perhaps it’s not surprising that these emotions are well-represented in the Bible. But when a team of researchers at BYU ran the numbers, they came across some intriguing insight. Love, for example, is the Bible’s most-mentioned emotion, followed by Fear. But both appear mostly in the context of humans feeling them. The most common emotion related to deity in the Bible? Anger. Explore the exhibit and data here.