The main components of the heart seem to be:
These are the kinds of thing that most deeply affect how we respond to things that happen to us, and so how we behave in our lives. They affect which thoughts occur to us, which channels we let our thoughts go down, including which channels our thoughts ponder and wander. Occasionaly, our control of thughts and behaviour is conscious and deliberate, but often it is tacit, what some people call sub-conscious.
Some call these things our culture or cultural baggage, but that is such an ambiguous term, which includes experiences of hurt or joy, social relationships, etc. which are not what we call heart. They might influence the development of our heart, but they are not themselves part of it.
Notice, we do not treat the heart as static or unchanging. We sometimes talk about "change of heart." Hearts sometimes do and can change, more rapidly when major tragedy or trouble occurs, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, or more slowly as we ponder or learn, especially in our young years. But otherwise our hearts change slowly, much more slowly than do our behaviours and thinking.
Those who know of Dooyeweerd's philosophy will recognise that elements in the list above are qualified by the final two aspects, most by the pistic aspect, while attitudes are qualified by the ethical aspect.
That heart is so important implies several things. It is third of three steps in attitude and understanding. The first is when we treat people as 'goodies and baddies', usually us who are goodies, 'them' who are baddies, and we focus on what is wrong with 'them.' Jesus warned us not to focus on the speck in our neighbour's eye and ignore the large lump of wood in our own. The second is to recognise we have all sinned, we are all 'broken'. That is much better. It motivates mercy and humility in us. However it does not go far enough. It often is taken to mean that we are to be pitied and comforted, on the grounds that the brokenness is by no means our 'fault' but imposed on us either by nature, burture or society. Then either we endure fate or we wait for 'the system' to rescue us. However, if evil emerges from our heart, then we are responsible agents, not just victims. This is good, not bad, news, because it opens up the possibility of escape. We can repent, turn to God to save us (in the broadest sense), and God, who is active among us and delights to be so, does save. It is the role of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us to change our hearts; we cannot do it ourselves.
This page, URL= "http://abxn.org/nv/heart.html",
is part of the on-going work in developing a 'New View' in theology and practice that is appropriate to the days that are coming upon us. Comments, queries welcome by emailing
Compiled by Andrew Basden as part of his reflections from a Christian perspective. Copyright (c) Andrew Basden to latest date below, but you may use this material for almost any purpose, but subject to certain conditions.
Written on the Amiga with Protext in the style of classic HTML.
Created: 1 April 2021. Last updated: 24 May 2024 3 stages, cnn.