Conceptual mixture in the early Christian anti-Judaic treatise “De duobus montibus sina et sion”

The article reveals the development of anti-Judaic rhetoric in the early Christian treatise “De duobus montibus Sina et Sion”. For this purpose, the theory of conceptual mixing developed by cognitive linguists J. Fouconier and M. Turner is used. According to this theory, cognition occurs through the “mixing” of various concepts in our subconscious, thanks to which new knowledge is formed. The theory partially overlaps with the theory of conceptual metaphor by J. Lakoff and M. Johnson, according to which metaphor is a universal way of thinking in which abstract entities are known through more concrete ones. Thus, the author of the work “De duobus montibus...” personifies Christians with Zion, and Jews with Sinai, at the same time determining that the first mountain is spiritual, and the second is earthly. This is the first blend that we find in the text, and through it the author proves that everything connected with Christians is holy and sinless, and everything connected with Jews is spiritless and lawless. Thanks to the theory of conceptual confusion, it is clear that such views of the author were formed not because of his direct contact with the Jews, but thanks to his imagination.