Religious Metaphors at the Crossroads between Apophatical Theology and Cognitive Linguistics

Abstract

This chapter introduces an interdisciplinary approach to the study of religious discourse, inspired by the observation that the tradition of negative theology, rediscovered by postmodern philosophy and theology, shares major points of interest with the cognitive theory of language. Its primary goal is an attempt to compare two epistemological systems in a fruitful and promising way. There are three major parts. The first deals with aspects of apophatical (or negative) theology and presents its rediscovery by postmodern theology. The second describes central aspects of cognitive semantics, with special attention to the theory of conceptual metaphor. The third brings the two theories together in search of both similarities and differences. It will be shown that there are common points of interest and methodology, and that each approach can contribute to the other, offering possible benefits to theology.