Religious Text and Metaphorical Thinking: New Opportunities Afforded by the Cognitive Approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71294/ers.2025.05Keywords:
cognitive metaphor, religious texts, conceptual blending, language games, hermeneutics, literalness, religious discourse.Abstract
Abstract. The article analyses the potential of applying the cognitive theory of metaphor to the study of religious texts and demonstrates the relevance of this approach for contemporary religious studies. It outlines the prospects of using Lakoff and Johnson’s ideas for examining religious discourse while also demonstrating the necessity of adjusting them, since in religious traditions the boundary between the literal and the metaphorical is fluid and becomes an object of inquiry in its own right. The article shows that recent corpus-based projects (particularly CRC 1475 “Metaphors of Religion”) open up new opportunities for cross-cultural and diachronic analysis of religious metaphors and make it possible to identify large-scale patterns of religious meaning-making. At the same time, it highlights several methodological challenges, such as the loss of cultural specificity in translation and the problem of discriminating between literal and metaphorical meanings, which requires combining corpus methods with hermeneutical and contextual analysis. The article examines the analytical potential and limitations of approaches developed by Gerard Steen, Zoltán Kövecses and Wojciech Wrzosek, including the distinction between deliberate, “living,” and dogmatized metaphors. Select examples are used to demonstrate the results of applying conceptual blending theory to religious narratives. The article further offers a critical assessment of the “presumption of metaphoricality” in secular interpretations of sacred texts and argues for the necessity of integrating cognitive metaphor theory with the concept of language games and hermeneutical approaches.
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