Metaphor and Religious Language

Christian theology has suffered in modern times by an inability to explain its traditional reliance on metaphor to an audience intellectually formed by empiricism. The author argues that what is needed is not a more literal theology but a better understanding of metaphor. The account of metaphor and religious language offered here not only illuminates the way in which the clergy speak of God, but also contributes to our understanding of the workings of metaphor in scientific theory and other disciplines.