I ran across this quote by Hans Boersma (J.I. Packer Professor of Theology at Regent College)in a “Community Called Atonement” by Scot McKnight:
“[Metaphors] are a divinely given means to avoid idolatrous claims of knowledge. Metaphors are non-literal descriptions of reality. They are an acknowledgment that we need to access the world around us in an indirect fashion, and that the idea of direct and complete access is an arrogant illusion that violates the multifaceted integrity if the created world.”
“Non-literal descriptions of reality”. Wonderfully put.
This quote would go a lot farther if it wasn’t an “idolatrous claim of knowledge.” I kinda like the definition, too, but the claim that it’s the only way to communicate with the world seems a bit “arrogant.”
By: akagaga on August 13, 2008
at 7:00 am
I’m intrigued…
I think I’ve just added another book to my reading list!
Thanks Christian!
R.
By: Robert on August 13, 2008
at 7:58 am
GaGa, I take it a little differently; for example when physicists and cosmologists discuss the micro and macro universes, although they are speaking of mathematically ‘proven’ states, they are using pictures to help them understand what they are talking about. No one thinks that the atom looks like that thing up in Seattle.
Ah, Robert. It’s not that ‘great’ of a read (no offense Mr. McKnight), unless you are into dense systematic theology. Yoo-hoo!
By: Christian Beyer on August 13, 2008
at 9:42 am
This is from “Metaphors We Live By” from George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, “metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought or action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundementally metaphoric in nature.” (p. 1)
I don’t think metaphors are to avoid idolatry–and in fact are the central reason for many idols. Metaphors explain the new and unknown in ways we can relate to.
Metaphors, and their cousins the simile, can be said to be the root of idolatry. For example, in the Garden, the snake says to A and E, “eat this and you will be like gods.” Idols were made to represent gods (and other spirit beings). Remember the Golden Calf? Aaron says, “Behold your gods who have brought you out of Egypt.” In these cases, and many others, metaphor is at the core of idol worship.
The church has done the same thing. While the cross stands for Christ, in many groups it has become an idol–and in fact some groups do not use crosses for this reason.
The Eucharist? Another example of metaphor gone wild. Jesus uses the metaphor–”take, eat, this is my body . . .” The Church took that literally to the point of saying that the host, the wafer, is Christ, and the wheat is an accident.
Just Keepin’ it Real
Zoorific Logiolander
By: logiopath on August 13, 2008
at 9:52 am
I disagree, Illogio Zoolander. It is when people stop seeing the metaphor as a simile and start seeing it as the physical actuality that it becomes idolatrous. The Eucharist in Roman Catholicism is no longer a metaphor for the crucified Christ but actually becomes the body and blood for them. When we start to see real physical power emanating from bound Bibles, crosses, crucifixes, statues and blessed waters, that’s idolatry, or just plain superstition. (I do not want to suggest that I see the Roman Catholic sacrament of the Holy Eucharist as a superstition)
Was the Golden Calf a metaphor for God or did the Israelites actually begin to worship a ‘calf-god’ ? We can see God represented in a pillar of fire or a baby lamb but when we begin to say that God IS a pillar of fire or a baby lamb and relate to a God in that form only then we have crossed over into idolatry. I have been told, for example, that the avatars used in Hinduism are not supposed to be actual representations of their god(s) but metaphors for certain aspects of god.
I might agree that the metaphor can be the root of idolatry just as we could say that good things are at the root of sin in that they are truths that have been distorted.
By: Christian Beyer on August 13, 2008
at 12:04 pm
See the forest for the trees, Chef Boy-Ar-YIT. Metaphors are the root of idolatry, Subaruphile. That’s what I said, so put take off your rose-colored glasses, wake up, and smell the free coffee provided by Dr. N.
By: logiopath on August 13, 2008
at 12:58 pm
Look, you big over-educated Wookie, when you distort a metaphor by seeing it as ‘fact’ then it is no longer a metaphor. Something cannot be both a metaphor and an idol.
Are you suggesting that if someone takes Biblical metaphors literally that they are in danger of being idolatrous?
By: Christian Beyer on August 13, 2008
at 1:19 pm
Duh! Why do you think people act like certain things–such as saying hell is a sin? Because these things have been morphed by Christians from obvious metaphors into idols.
Wookie? “Bruce is a Wookie.” Good metaphor.
By: logiopath on August 13, 2008
at 2:07 pm
Over educated? Maybe under employed. Until I earn some sort of Dr-8 I will consider myself under educated.
By: logiopath on August 13, 2008
at 2:08 pm
What’s a Drate?
Anyway, I still say that once a metaphor becomes the idol it is no longer the metaphor. If I actually believe that you were 7 feet tall, covered in fur, bellowed like a beast and hailed from the planet Kashyyyk then my referring to you as a Wookie would no longer be a metaphor. Hey, wait a minute….
By: Christian Beyer on August 13, 2008
at 2:59 pm
A Doctorate, as in Dr. Phil Brown, PhD, MS, MA, MOUSE.
No, no, no! The metaphor still exists, it is just covered in the acts of worship. Ecstatic experience turns the idea into an idol, but the metaphor is at the core–in other words, the idea that started the whole shebang.
By: logiopath on August 13, 2008
at 3:30 pm
Well, we are at an impasse here. You are east and I am west, and ne’er is there a train of meat.
By: Christian Beyer on August 13, 2008
at 3:47 pm
We’re at an impasse? You mean I’m right and you don’t know how to respond?
By: logiopath on August 13, 2008
at 5:19 pm
Uh…sure. Now, have you taken your meds?
By: Christian Beyer on August 13, 2008
at 7:37 pm
No, have you taken yours? (and I don’t mean Jack and Jim)
By: logiopath on August 13, 2008
at 7:56 pm
Oh. Well, then, no. I haven’t. When did they change my prescription?
By: Christian Beyer on August 13, 2008
at 8:00 pm
I don’t know, why don’t you ask your Director of Clinical Services?
By: Ambrosia de Milano on August 13, 2008
at 9:10 pm