Open AccessMetaphor and Theological Realism
Author(s) -
Sebastian Gäb
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
european journal for philosophy of religion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.25
H-Index - 9
ISSN - 1689-8311
DOI - 10.24204/ejpr.v6i1.192
Subject(s) - metaphor , sketch , epistemology , realism , religious pluralism , philosophy , interpretation (philosophy) , pluralism (philosophy) , linguistics , sentence , perspective (graphical) , literal (mathematical logic) , sociology , theology , computer science , algorithm , artificial intelligence
In this paper, I argue that there are indispensable and irreducible metaphors in religious language and that this does not threaten a realist interpretation of religion. I first sketch a realist theory of religious language and argue that we cannot avoid addressing the problems metaphor poses to semantics. I then give a brief account of what it means for a metaphorical sentence to be true and how metaphors can refer to something even if what they mean is not expressible in literal terms. Finally, I discuss how this realist theory of metaphor influences our understanding of negative theology and gives a new perspective on religious pluralism.