Metaphor as Knowledge. A Hermeneutical Framework for Biblical Exegesis with a Sample Reading from the Song of Songs (Song 8:10)
Metaphor as Knowledge. A Hermeneutical Framework for Biblical Exegesis with a Sample Reading from the Song of Songs (Song 8:10)

Summary/Abstract: The main purpose of this article is to provide biblical scholarship with a broadhermeneutical framework concerning the cognitive dimension of metaphorical phenomena.According to current research, metaphor is a tool of knowledge, a way through whichthe human mind conceptualizes reality. Despite the fact that Cognitive Linguistics (CL)is generally credited with bringing the cognitive dimension of metaphor to light, thediscovery of this dimension is by no means recent. This article will show that it alreadyappeared in Aristotle’s work, was blurred in Classical Rhetoric by a more aestheticperspective, reappeared at the very beginning of the modern age, and finally becamedominant in the 20th century. CL is therefore the result of a long tradition that has themerit of clarifying the cognitive mechanisms of metaphorical processes. Its theoreticaland methodological model currently represents the reference point for studies on dailyand literary metaphors, shedding new light on biblical metaphors. This article shows howCL can be beneficial for biblical exegesis by analysing Song 8:10 in light of this approach.

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