Sticky Theology, Part 3: Metaphors, Emotional Selection, and Penal Substitutionary Atonement

When we consider theological memes we should note that the mind is largely a metaphorical device. Metaphors dominate our thinking. Thus, theology is largely metaphorical. So, to understand theology we must understand a bit about cognition and metaphor. (Note: Much of what follows is copied from a post from my Spiritual Pollution series.)

The linguists and cognitive scientists George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (see their books Metaphors We Live By and Philosophy in the Flesh) have done some very interesting and influential work on the metaphorical nature of human cognition. To be more specific, I do not mean the airy metaphors of poetry. Rather, Lakoff and Johnson note that our cognitive schemas are largely structured by our sensorimotor system. That is, our bodies, and how they interact with the world around us, provide us means to "ground" our more abstract notions (e.g., love, justice, relationships, life) in concrete embodied metaphors.

For example, an orientational metaphor such as Up/Down is used as metaphor for health (e.g., Heā€™s down with the flu), power (e.g., You want to move up in this company), mood (e.g., Iā€™m feeling up today), or morality (e.g., Heā€™s a low-down person). How are these metaphors constructed? Are they random connections? Lakoff and Johnson contend that these metaphors begin with our bodily experiences of rising and lying down, of "orienting" ourselves in a gravity well. For example, being ill causes one to lie "down," whereas being healthy is associated with getting "up." Thus, the metaphorical mapping Bad = Down and Good = Up gets rooted and generalized to specific sources of ā€œgoodnessā€ and ā€œbadnessā€ (e.g., health, mood, power).

Another example. Abstract "states" are often understood via "container metaphors." Thus, we "fall in" love and "come out of" comas. We are "in" trouble or "getting out of" a romantic relationship. Thus we see how natural and ubiquitous these metaphors are. As Lakoff and Johnson note, we couldn't think without them.

What does this have to do with theology?

Well, we structure our theological constructs via metaphors. All kinds of metaphors. Think of how God is understood. God is King, Fortress, Judge, Father, Mother, Shield, Shepherd, Warrior, Husband. And on and on. How is the Christian experience understood? Life, journey, fight, race, growth. And on and on.

As we see, all these metaphors carry theological weight. They highlight or emphasize a "truth." (And, of course, they can obscure truths or be pushed too far.)

Let's consider a list of Sin/Salvation metaphors in the Bible. The Sin/Salvation metaphors I've noted in the bible are the following:

Metaphor : Sin : Salvation
Purity : Contaminated/Dirty : Pure/Clean
Rescue : Perishing : Saved
Economic : Debt : Payment
Legal : Crime and punishment : Forgiveness
Freedom : Slavery : Emancipation
Optics : Dark : Light
Navigation : Lost : Found
Nation : Alien : Citizen
Health : Illness : Healing
Knowledge : Ignorance : Understanding
Relational : Enemy : Friend
Familial : Orphan : Adoption
Horticultural : Pruned : Grafted in
Vision : Blindness : Sight
Development : Infancy : Maturity
Military : War : Peace
Biological : Death : Life
Ambulatory : Falling/Stumbling : Standing/Walking
Truth : Error/False : Correct/True
Performance : Failure/Mistake : Success


Now, if take this list (and others like it) and connect it with the idea of emotional selection (see post #1 in this series) we can note that a few metaphors stand out for their emotional oomph. These are the rescue and crime and punishment metaphors. That is, although growth metaphors of salvation are huge in scripture (i.e., the notion of sanctification), they just don't pack an emotional punch. Salvation as "journey" is a deep metaphor, but it isn't really emotionally powerful.

But let's say I tell you a story where you are about to die. And someone suddenly (or with forethought) steps in to die in your place. Like falling on a grenade in a WWI foxhole or pushing you out of the way of an oncoming train. Now these anecdotes, expressions of particular metaphors, do have a lot of rhetorical or emotional punch.

Interestingly, these are the very metaphors behind the salvation schema called penal substitutionary atonement (PSA). One of worrisome things about PSA is that it is, at root, simply a metaphor. And as a metaphor it contains some truth. The trouble is that the PSA metaphors are reified and dominate the soteriological conversations in most churches. Why?

Well, I think it is because PSA is a form of sticky theology. It's sticky because it is attached to the metaphors that are most likely to thrive via emotional selection. This is why I think PSA is ascendent in our churches. It is the most emotionally and rhetorically powerful and memorable presentation of the cross. This does not make PSA coherent. But it does make PSA popular, thriving as a memetic form of sticky theology.

Next Post: Part 4

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