Metanoia

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For the album by progressive rock band Porcupine Tree , see Metanoia (album).

Metanoia (from the Greek μετανοεῖν, metanoien, to change one's mind) is a rhetorical device used to retract a statement just made, and then state it in a better way.^[1] It is similar to correctio.

1 Correctio
- 1.1 Weakening
- 1.2 Strengthening
2 Biblical References
3 References

[edit] Correctio

Metanoia is used in recalling a statement in two ways—-to weaken the prior declaration or to strengthen it.

[edit] Weakening

The use of metanoia to weaken a statement is effective because the original statement still stands, along with the qualifying statement.^[2] For instance, when one says, "I will murder you. You shall be punished," the force of the original statement ("I will murder you") remains, while a more realistic alternative has been put forward ("you shall be punished").

[edit] Strengthening

When it is used to strengthen a statement, metanoia works to ease the reader from a moderate statement to a more radical one, as in this quote from Marcus Aurelius's Meditations

I still fall short of it through my own fault, and through not observing the admonitions of the gods, and, I may almost say, their direct instructions (Book One);^[3]

Here Aurelius utilizes metanoia to move from a mild idea ("not observing the admonitions of the gods") to a more intense one ("not observing... their direct instructions"). He uses the clause "I may almost say" to introduce the metanoia.

[edit] Biblical References

From Greek μετάνοια, compounded from the preposition μετά (after, with) and the verb νοέω (to perceive, to think, the result of perceiving or observing).

Metanoia simply means "a change of mind". In Christianity, the term refers to spiritual conversion. The word appears often in the Gospels. It is usually translated into English as "repent":

And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

καὶ λέγων ὅτι πεπλήρωται ὁ καιρὸς καὶ ἤγγικεν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ: μετανοεῖτε καὶ πιστεύετε ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ.

(Mark 1:15 )