Theologians, linguists, scientists, and ordinary people have long understood that we don’t merely use metaphors when we speak: rather metaphors shape the way we think and the ways we perceive the world. Metaphors move us from something familiar to something unfamiliar, from the unknown to the now-known. They are one of the basic ways we come to understand the world.
No metaphor or cluster of metaphors is isomorphic with Creation; no semantic description can capture or fully describe its complexity and richness. But metaphors, both those we use unconsciously and those we use consciously, can be more or less faithful to reality, more or less wise in the pictures they paint.
One way to enrich our imaginations, and to align them more faithfully with our Creator, is to explore and meditate on metaphors that are used repeatedly in the scriptures and that resonate throughout the Christian tradition—metaphors such as eating, pilgrimage, building, and many others.
On Thursday, 18 August 2022 at 1400 UTC, Dr Susan Felch, Director of Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship and Professor of English at Calvin University (USA), will ask in this webinar: what are metaphors? can metaphors lie? can metaphors illuminate or bridge cultural differences? do theological metaphors tell the truth about God? how might attentiveness to metaphors enliven our work as Christian scholars, teachers, administrators, and colleagues?
In preparation for the webinar, please read the following excerpt from her co-authored book with David I. Smith, Teaching and Christian Imagination (Eerdmans, 2016).
