Metaphors of Eucharistic Presence Language, Cognition, and the Body and Blood of Christ

In Metaphors of Eucharistic Presence: Language, Cognition, and the Body and Blood of Christ, Stephen R. Shaver brings together the fields of cognitive linguistics and liturgical theology to propose a new approach to the ecumenically controversial issue of eucharistic presence. Drawing from the work of cognitive linguists such as George Lakoff, Gilles Fauconnier, and Mark Turner, and theologians such as Robert Masson and John Sanders, Shaver argues that there is no clear division between literal and figurative language: rather, human cognition is grounded in sensorimotor experience, and phenomena such as metaphor and conceptual blending are basic building blocks of thought. Complex realities are ordinarily understood by means of more than one metaphor. Inherited models of eucharistic presence, then, are not necessarily mutually exclusive but can serve as complementary members of a shared ecumenical repertoire.

The central element of this repertoire is the motif of identity--the eucharistic bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ--grounded in the Synoptic and Pauline institution narratives. From a cognitive standpoint, this metaphor can be understood both as figurative and as true in the proper sense, resolving a dichotomy that has divided the churches since the Reformation. The identity motif is complemented by four major non-scriptural motifs: representation, change, containment, and conduit.

Inaugurating a new interdisciplinary conversation, this book contributes to ongoing ecumenical reconciliation not only by addressing eucharistic presence but also by demonstrating an approach which may hold promise in other historically controverted areas. Meanwhile for cognitive linguists it offers an intriguing case study in the application of that discipline to theological questions.

Stephen R. Shaver is the rector of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Santa Rosa, California. He earned his Ph.D. in Liturgical Studies from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, where he has taught courses in eucharistic theology and liturgical leadership.

Preface
Abbreviations

Chapter 1. Introduction: Theology in Multiple Metaphors
1.1 Liturgical theology and the embodied mind
1.2 An additive method
1.3 Metaphors of eucharistic presence
1.4 Some notes on scope and standpoint

Chapter 2. Metaphor, Embodied Realism, and Sacramental Truth
2.1 Introducing conceptual metaphor theory
2.2 More complex metaphors
2.3 Metonymy
2.4 Polysemy and prototypicality: beyond classical categories
2.5 Beyond objectivism: embodied realism for theologians
Conclusions

Chapter 3. Conceptual Blending and Two Ways of Feeding on Jesus
3.1 Conceptual blending
3.2 Asymmetric blends: bread is Jesus, Jesus is bread
3.3 The Synoptic/Pauline metaphor: this loaf and wine are jesus' body and blood
3.4 The Johannine metaphor: Jesus' flesh and blood are heavenly life-giving bread and drink
Conclusions

Chapter 4. Identity: The Great Divide
4.1 The identity motif in Christian tradition
4.2 Zwingli: "is" as a trope
4.3 Luther: "is" as literal predication
4.4 Some illustrative exchanges
4.5 A cognitive-linguistic assessment
4.6 Broader implications of the great divide
Conclusions

Chapter 5. Identity: Bridging the Divide
5.1 Overcoming the dichotomy: Robert Masson and the tectonic process
5.2 Building on Masson's work: radial extension and prototypicality
5.3 The Synoptic/Pauline metaphor as a tectonic shift
5.4 Polysemy: identity and distinction in tension
Conclusions

Chapter 6. Representation
6.1 Symbols as material anchors
6.2 The Y2 construction: a more complex integration network
6.3 Representation and Identity in coexistence
6.4 Revisiting the polysemy networks from Chapter 5
Conclusions

Chapter 7. Change
7.1 Development and variations of the change motif
7.2 Reformed and Lutheran responses to the change motif
7.3 The eucharistic gifts as bread and wine
Conclusions

Chapter 8. Containment
8.1 Development and variations of the containment motif
8.2 Post-Reformation responses to the containment motif
8.3 Transubstantiation: a special combination of change and containment
Conclusions

Chapter 9. Conduit
9.1 Verticality and the emergence of the conduit motif
9.2 Visual conduit language
9.3 Reformed and Roman visual piety: an unexpected convergence
Conclusions

Chapter 10. Bringing the Repertoire Together
10.1 Affirmations in common: the ecumenical repertoire of metaphors
10.2 Embodied entailments: the duration of Christ's presence
10.3 Embodied entailments: adoration
Conclusions

Selected Bibliography in Cognitive Linguistics