Metaphor a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance.
Without the salt of metaphors, speech and writing can be pretty bland. (This very phrase uses a metaphor.) What would great literature, poetry, Shakespeare be like without vivid and elegant metaphors? The very stuff of the Bible requires metaphors, for to speak of God is almost impossible without them.
And, here’s the rub: many of the biblical metaphors, and the religious discourse that uses them, no longer have the dynamism and clarity they had originally in their (different) culture and time.
Once they were striking to their hearers and stimulated a new way of thinking; for many of the hearers or readers of today they are archaic and have to be learned to be fully understood.
For example, the beautiful Letter to the Hebrews, so deeply rooted in Old Testament thought and practice, utilizes a fundamental and unusual metaphor: Jesus as the high priest of the new dispensation, forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.
The letter overwhelmingly uses the notion of temple sacrifice—a familiar and important part of Jewish religious observance until the destruction of the Second Temple—to explain and give meaning to the horrible death of Jesus on the cross—Jesus as the priest-offeror and at the same time Jesus as the sacrificial victim.
It was a meaningful and evocative metaphor for the early Jewish disciples of Jesus as they wrestled with the scandalous death of the Messiah, but for other Jews and Gentiles, without the insight of the metaphor, Christ crucified defied belief.
The inscription-charge on the cross said, “Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews”. Jesus’ followers saw profound meaning in the title (construing it metaphorically); his enemies were outraged by it (taking it literally).
Kings and queens still exist, and we’re used to history books and imaginative stories about them, but they’re no longer governing and ruling hereditary monarchs with great powers. So, even though the metaphor of king for Jesus is somewhat familiar, it still is of another era and needs interpretation to redeem its original force.
In Jewish and Christian tradition God is described with diverse other metaphors and images: e.g. warrior-leader, shepherd, cuckolded husband, maker, rock, father, redeemer, savior, judge, destroyer, eagle, vital force—as well as mighty fortress.
Some of our religious metaphors are transcultural and enduring, but many are dated and no longer so self-evident nor meaningful as they once were.
It’s like speaking with esoteric, technical, or archaic words—either the speaker explains them as part of the discourse or else fails to communicate effectively.
One of the challenges of contemporary evangelization is to find additional, new metaphors to communicate perennial truths more dynamically and effectively.
Regarding this, the first Star Wars movie is provocative: Luke Skywalker is taught about the Force by Obi-Wan Kenobi: “It is an energy field . . . It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together.” Luke has to learn not to use the Force but to allow the Force to use him.
A modern metaphor for the Holy Spirit?
7 April 2019