Metaphor in the Bible (EABS)

Call For Papers: This year the research unit Metaphor in the Bible intends to investigate biblical metaphors not as “isolated events of discourse”, but as parts of a network of metaphors. According to Ricœur, “a metaphor never comes alone. One metaphor calls for another and all together they remain alive thanks to their mutual tension and the power of each to evoke the whole network” (Paul Ricœur, “Biblical Hermeneutics,” Semeia 1975/4: 29-148, here 94). From this perspective, metaphors are not to be considered individually, but rather as belonging to a whole that is more than the sum of its parts. We welcome papers that investigate the mutual tension between metaphors and clusters of metaphors, in either a specific biblical book or in entire biblical traditions (e.g., the prophetic tradition, the wisdom tradition, etc.). This year, we intend to hold four sessions. In Session 1, invited senior scholars will inquire into the aforementioned phenomenon in both the Hebrew Bible (+ Deuterocanonical books) and the New Testament. Sessions 2, 3, and 4 are open to all EABS and ISBL members who wish to submit proposals on the topic “networks of metaphors in the Bible”. Furthermore, we encourage the submission of proposals about networks of metaphors in Ancient Near Eastern literary and non-literary texts. While metaphorical phenomena in the Bible have been thoroughly and extensively studied over the past decades, the study of metaphors in Ancient Near Eastern literature is still at its very beginning. Hence, this year we also intend to foster the research on “networks of metaphors” in the Ancient Near East. We intend to publish the results of the sessions.

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