Cover not available

Article published In: Transcategoriality: A crosslinguistic perspective
Edited by Sylvie Hancil, Danh Thành Do-Hurinville and Huy Linh Dao
[Cognitive Linguistic Studies 5:1] 2018
► pp. 155–187

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

The kaleidoscope of divine images

Conceptual metaphors concerning God in gospel songs

 | National Taiwan University
 | National Taiwan University
Published online: 30 August 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cogls.00017.hua
Abstract
Compared to metaphors about God in the Bible, those in other Christian contexts seem to receive little academic attention. To bridge this gap, this study examines metaphors gathered from gospel songs on Billboard and iTunes to analyze the abstract concept of God from a cognitive linguistic viewpoint through extending the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory. Our findings indicate that while diverse kinds of metaphors focus on the multi-dimensionality of God such as his characteristics (e.g., GOD IS A MAGICIAN and GOD IS A LOVER), outline (e.g., GOD IS A CONTAINER and GOD IS LIQUID), and supreme status (e.g., GOD IS HIGH), structural metaphors tend to represent the overwhelming majority and thus form the basis for the structural-metaphor-dominant phenomenon. In addition, the flawless figure of God is suggested to result from the PERFECTION image schema which is responsible for hidden aspects in related metaphorical structures. Furthermore, metaphors about divine images, having their mapping details enriched by biblical context, are suggested to possess recessive metaphor inheritance. Finally, the rhythm of ‘chain of metaphors’ is proposed to interpret how the spirit of the songs about the divine being are brought out. This study sheds light on our overall understanding of the concepts of God in Christian culture, and contributes to the development of interdisciplinary studies concerning metaphor, religion, cognition, and culture.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background information and literature review
    • 2.1Metaphor and religion
    • 2.2The development of gospel song in Western culture
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Sources of the data
    • 3.2The definition of God
    • 3.3The identification of metaphorical linguistic expressions in the data
    • 3.4The classification of different types of metaphors
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1The structural-metaphor-dominant phenomenon
    • 4.2The eternally perfect images of God
    • 4.3Recessive metaphor inheritance
    • 4.4The rhythm of the chain of metaphors
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (64)
References
About Billboard Magazine. (n.d.). In Billboard. Retrieved August 8, 2016, from [URL].
Barcelona, A. (2003). The metaphorical and metonymic understanding of the Trinitarian dogma. International Journal of English Studies, 3 (1), 1–27.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Besançon, S. A. (1996). Father-ruler: The meaning of the metaphor “Father” for God in the Bible. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 39 (3), 433–442.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Botica, A. (2014). “The all-knowing God.” Old Testament and Hellenistic Metaphors in the genre of New Testament Apocalyptic. Caesura – Journal of Philological and Humanistic Studies, 1 (2), 1–19.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Charteris-Black, J. (2004). Corpus approaches to critical metaphor analysis. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chu, M. (1996). The power of metaphor: Veils within Judeo-Christianity and Islam. Retrieved from [URL].
Coppens, C. S. J. (1903). A systematic study of the Catholic religion. St. Louis, MO: B. HERDER.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Corbin, J. M., & Strauss, A. L. (2008). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cusic, D. (1990). The sound of light: A history of gospel music. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2002). The development of gospel music. In A. Moore (Ed.), Cambridge companion to blues and gospel music (pp. 44–60). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
DesCamp, M. T., & Sweetser, E. V. (2005). Metaphors for God: Why and how do our choices matter for humans? The application of contemporary cognitive linguistics research to the debate on God and metaphor. Pastoral Psychology, 53 (3), 207–238. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eder, S. (2016). “Broken hearted” and “crushed in spirit”: Metaphors and emotions in Psalm 34, 19. Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament, 30 (1), 1–15. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fedriani, C. (2016). Ontological and orientational metaphors in Latin. In W. M. Short (Ed.), Embodiment in Latin semantics (pp. 115–140). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
First Great Awakening. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 10, 2017, from [URL].
Froom, L. E. (1952). Music: Camp meetings and revival music. The Ministry, 25 (8), 25–27.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gerhart, M., & Russell, A. M. (1984). Metaphoric process: The creation of scientific and religious understanding. Fort Worth, TX: Texas Christian University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gonzalez, A., & Makay, J. J. (1983). Rhetorical ascription and the gospel according to Dylan. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 69 (1), 1–14. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gospel music. (n.d.). In Wikipedia . Retrieved March 16, 2017, from [URL].
Gubernatis, L. (2010). The magic belt and other fantastical things. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haas, A. M. (1999). The nothing of God and its explosive metaphors. Eckhart Review, 8 (1), 6–17. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harrison, A. (2015, July 9). Speaking of sin: Conceptual metaphor and cultural divide. Dedicated Journal. Retrieved from [URL]
Hesbacher, P., Downing, R., & Berger, D. G. (1975). Sound recording popularity charts: A useful tool for music research. Popular Music and Society, 4 (1), 3–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Howe, B. (2006). Because you bear this name: Conceptual metaphor and the moral meaning of 1 Peter. Leiden, the Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
iTunes. (n.d.). In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved August 8, 2016, from [URL].
Jackson, J. M. (1995). The changing nature of Gospel music: A southern case study. African American Review, 29 (2), 185–191. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnson, M. (1987). The body in the mind: The bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Joyce, G. (1912). The blessed Trinity. In The Catholic encyclopedia. New York, NY: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved August 7, 2015, from New Advent: [URL].
Keach, B. (1972). Preaching from the types and metaphors of the Bible (12th ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
King, P. (2012). Metaphor and methodology for cross-cultural investigation of Hebrew emotions. Journal of Translation, 8 (1), 9–24.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klop, M. -L. (2015). God the exclusively Christian father: An analysis of the response of Islamic teenagers to Christian metaphors applied to Allah (Master thesis). Leiden, the Netherlands: Leiden University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kotzé, Z. (2004). The conceptualisation of anger in the Hebrew Bible (Doctoral dissertation). Stellenbosch, South Africa: Stellenbosch University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kövecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A practical introduction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011). The Biblical story retold: A cognitive linguistic perspective. In M. Brdar, S. Th. Gries & M. Ž. Fuchs (Eds.), Cognitive linguistics: Convergence and expansion (pp. 325–354). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Where metaphors come from: Reconsidering context in metaphor. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuczok, M. (2010). Conceptual metaphors for the notion of Christian life in John Henry Newman’s Parochial and Plain Sermons . Newman Studies Journal, 7 (2), 29–40. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Labahn, A. (2006). Fire from above: Metaphors and images of God’s actions in Lamentations 2:1–9. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 31 (2), 239–256. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1993). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and thought (2nd ed., pp. 202–251). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1999). Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Legg, A. (2010). A taxonomy of musical gesture in African American gospel music. Popular Music, 29 (1), 103–129. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lin, T. Y. -Y., & Chiang, W. -y. (2016). Concrete images and abstract metaphorical extensions in the encounter between language and music: Hsu Chih-Mo’s poem “Serendipity.” Journal of Pragmatics, 961, 32–48. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marvasti, A. B. (2004). Qualitative research in sociology. London, England: SAGE Publications. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McFague, S. (1982). Metaphorical theology: Models of God in religious language. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McNeil, W. K. (Ed.). (2005). Encyclopedia of American gospel music. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Muis, J. (2008). God our king. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 64 (1), 269–288. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Neville, R. C. (2001). Symbols of Jesus: A Christology of symbolic engagement. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nicene Creed. (325). Nicaea (today, Iznik): The First Council of Nicaea.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ou, H. -H. (2012). Reading Biblical metaphors from the perspective of cognitive semantics – based on the recovery version and its footnotes (Doctoral dissertation). Kaohsiung, Taiwan: National Sun Yat-Sen University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pihlaja, S. (2011). Cops, popes, and garbage collectors: Metaphor and antagonism in an Atheist/Christian YouTube video thread. Language and Internet, 81, 1–17.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pragglejaz Group. (2007). MIP: A method for identifying metaphorically used words in discourse. Metaphor and Symbol, 22 (1), 1–39 Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ricœur, P. (1977). The rule of metaphor: Multi-disciplinary studies of the creation of meaning in language (R. Czernyi, Trans.). Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press. (Original work published 1975)Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sharifian, F. (2003). On cultural conceptualisations. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 3 (3), 187–207. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sheed, F. J. (1993). Theology and sanity. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press. (Original work published 1946)Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Slick, M. (2008). What is the trinity? In Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM). Retrieved from [URL].
Stefanowitsch, A. (2006). Words and their metaphors: A corpus-based approach. Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs, 1711, 63–105.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
The history of gospel music. (n.d.). In Gospel Music Heritage Month Foundation (GMHMF). Retrieved August 14, 2016, from [URL].
Timeline. (n.d.). In University of South California Digital Library. Retrieved September 9, 2015, from [URL].
Trinity. (n.d.). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved August 10, 2016, from [URL].
Trinity. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved August 10, 2016, from [URL].
Walker, S. (1998). Grounding biblical metaphor in reality: The philosophical basis of realist metaphorical language. Churchman, 112 (3), 214–224.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wheeler, A. P. (2009). The music of the early nineteenth-century camp meeting: Song in service to evangelistic revival. Methodist History, 48 (1), 23–42.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yin, R. K. (1989). Case study research: Design and methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Richardson, Peter & Miori Nagashima
2022. Divine and human agency in figurative language from John’s Gospel and Jodo‑Shinshu Buddhism. Cognitive Linguistic Studies 9:2 ► pp. 243 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue