2. Waterskiing Across Metaphor’s Surface: A Linguistic and Literary Metaphor Theory

Abstract

This chapter introduces an interdisciplinary metaphor theory that incorporates elements of linguistic and literary theories to provide greater insight into the use of metaphor in biblical texts and, for the purposes of this study, in the Fourth Gospel specifically. This chapter also serves the methodological groundwork for the remainder of this study. Towards this end, the study of metaphor in the three areas of philosophical, linguistic, and literary analysis provides a reason for the use of linguistic and literary elements in the metaphor theory proposed in this study, and propose a theoretical basis for an interdisciplinary metaphor theory that incorporates elements of past theories in a new configuration. The final section provides a step-by-step description of the proposed linguistic-literary approach. In this way it is possible to demonstrate the necessity and impact of kingship metaphors on the Fourth Gospel as a whole. Keywords:Fourth Gospel; linguistic; literary; metaphor theory; philosophical