“Fishers of Humans,” the Contemporary Theory of Metaphor, and Conceptual Blending Theory

Abstract

The present study argues for a new interpretation of the expression of humans that is sensitive to current understandings of intertextuality, narrative, and metaphor. Fishers of humans is treated as a metaphorical expression, being viewed through the apposite lenses of the Contemporary Theory of Metaphor (CTM) and Conceptual Blending Theory (CBT). Both theories emphasize the role of a metaphorical expressions immediate context, and thus the Markan narrative is analyzed closely; intratextuality is valued over intertextuality. Metaphor is seen to enhance not just the Markan characterization of the Twelve but also a historical construction that takes into consideration their emergence in Jesus' public career. By way of CTM, the expression's underlying conceptual metaphor is deduced as a proclaimer of the kingdom is a fisher. Further, the evocation of transformed social identity is affirmed by an application of CBT.(ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)...av0pcO7rcov.And Jesus said to them: Come after me, and I will make you to become fishers of humans. (Mark 1:17)Although of humans (...) is a patently metaphorical expression, the cognitive linguistic view of metaphor is conspicuously absent from its modern interpretations. It is largely for this reason that divergence, incoherence, and speculation abound in scholarly views on its sense and objective.1 The present study endeavors not only to redress this but also to reinvigorate investigation into the historical origin of the Twelve. E. P. Sanders suggests,apart from what we learn from the symbolic nature of the number twelve, we do not know Jesus' purpose in calling [the disciples].... The call of the early disciples ... gives us no knowledge about how Jesus gathered about himself a small group of followers.2His concerns seem to be widespread, although John P. Meier presents an exception.3 We will offer a cautious historical construction only after close consideration of the expression of humans alongside the Contemporary Theory of Metaphor (CTM) and Conceptual Blending Theory (CBT).4 The first section of the article will outline CTM and the multivalent usage of the source domain fishing in antiquity. The second will establish the conceptual metaphor by way of analysis of the Markan narrative. The third will discuss of humans in light of CBT, and the final section will review the relevant secondary literature and suggest a historical construction sensitive to the issues of narrative and memory. By expounding on the compatibility of the strange metaphor with both the Markan narrative and the hypothetical pragmatic concerns of a forward-thinking, Galilean charismatic, we intend to show up the scholarly predisposition to reach at whispers of intertextuality.I. CTM and a Multivalent MetaphorMetaphors seek to understand one thing in terms of another. Thus, sin, a somewhat abstract concept, can be understood either in terms of dirt, a more tangible and embodied reality, or again in terms of a dangerous animal that is ready to devour the unprepared, or again in terms of a weight to be carried. In the jargon, sin is the target domain and dirt, dangerous animal, or weight are the source domains.5 Invariably the lesser known (more abstract) is explained in terms of the better known (more tangible). We structure sin in terms of dirt when we wish to speak of its removal, in terms of a dangerous animal or even snare when we seek to understand human vulnerability, or a weight when we seek to understand the consequences of sin for the sinner. In other words, different source domains are used to structure the target domain depending on what aspect of the target domain is being considered. By structuring we mean the mapping of constituent elements from the source domain to the target domain. Thus, in the conceptual metaphor of sin is a weight, the thing weighed down by an object is mapped to the person who acts wrongly; the object is mapped to the wrongful act; the weight of the object is mapped to the nature of the wrongful act; and so on. …