the conceptions of sexuality and gender in ancient times, although
these concepts do not occur in the Greco-Roman world. However, the
present study keeps the concept and the conceptions of recognition
close to one another. My choice not to detach various conceptions
from the concept is a contingent decision, reflecting the conviction
that a relatively stable terminology designating the phenomenon of
religious recognition can already be found in early Christianity.
Although it is theoretically possible that the same phenomenon is
represented by entirely different concepts at different times, it is safer
to assume the relative stability of concepts. I am conscious that this
approach cannot cover everything that is relevant. For instance, the
intellectual history of love, respect, and esteem cannot be treated,
although some aspects of these concepts (such as Rousseau’sl’amour
propre)^84 are evidently connected with issues of recognition.
In defining the concept of recognition, we may start at the lexical
level. Paul Ricoeur proceeds from the French wordsreconnaîtreand
reconnaissance, linking them with various dimensions without any
clear set of rules.^85 In German,anerkennenundAnerkennungcor-
respond to these words. As they appear relatively late,erkennenand
Erkenntnis sometimes need to be considered. In English, both
acknowledge/acknowledgement and recognize/recognition corres-
pond to French and German terms.
In Latin religious sources, the verbscognosco,agnosco, andrecog-
nosco and the corresponding substantives cognitio, agnitio, and
recognitioare obvious counterparts of the vernacular terms.Cognosco
andcognitioare very broad, meaning knowing in general.Recognoscere
andrecognitiohave different meanings; sometimes, these words may
refer to a process of re-checking some product, for instance, a manu-
script. The obvious Latin counterparts to Ricoeur’sFrenchwordsare
agnoscoandagnitio. As we will see in the next chapter, these words
typically add an attachment or commitment to the act of cognition.
They also have distinctive religious usages. At the same time, all three
Latin terms need to be considered, as they are often used synonym-
ously and their meaning changes in the course of the history.
In Greek,gi[g]noskoandepiginosko, as well asgnosisandepignosis,
correspond to the Latin termscognosco/agnoscoandcognitio/agnitio.
Other lexical forms, in particularanagnorisis, are also relevant.
(^84) For Rousseau, see Neuhouser 2008. (^85) Ricoeur 2005, 1–22.
26 Recognition and Religion