in the fourth chapter of my book i include a discussion of the meaning of ‘heart’ in the bible:
“to what the word ‘heart’ refers can be confusing. it is a word used over 1000 times in the bible. . . . ‘heart’ refers to the center of emotional, intellectual and moral activity, of will and of reasoning. ‘the heart in scripture is variously used, sometimes for the mind and understanding, sometimes for the will, sometimes for the affections, sometimes for the conscience, sometimes for the whole soul. generally, it denotes the whole soul of man and all the faculties of it, not absolutely, but as they are all one principle of moral operations, as they all concur in our doing of good and evil.’. . . for the purposes of this book ‘heart’ will refer to the soul, which includes the mind, will and emotion, and the conscience interactive with the human spirit.”