The Listening Heart of Solomon or Leadership Competence from the Spiritual Dimension of Being Human. An Exegetical and Existential Analytical Look at 1 Kings 3:1–15

Abstract

In the Hebrew Bible, the heart has many functions: It is the seat of reason and thought as well as of feelings and desires. In combining these aspects, it stands for the centre of the human person. Both Ancient Egypt and Ancient Israel can be described as ‘cultures of the heart’, which use the heart metaphor to emphasise the inner person. What is symbolised by the ‘heart’ in the Bible corresponds in the vocabulary of existential analytical anthropology to the spiritual dimension of the human being, which describes the true self of the person. For Viktor E. Frankl, the founder of existential analysis and logotherapy, the heart metaphor in the Bible symbolises the ‘deep person’, i.e. the spiritual level of being human, which, according to Frankl’s dimensional ontology, unfolds in three ways (physically, psychologically and noologically). The noological dimension gives rise to the task-oriented nature and responsibility of the human being. From an existential analytical perspective, being responsible is the essence of noological existence. This article brings the story of young King Solomon’s request for a listening heart (1 Kings 3:1–15) and the associated biblical model of an ideal, wise ruler into dialogue with the concept of meaning-oriented leadership based on logotherapy and existential analysis.