In the Pauline literature of the New Testament the characteristics of the Spirit and Christian
life are described through the use of metaphor. An interpreter of Paul must understand his
metaphors in order to arrive at a complete understanding of the Pauline pneumatological
perspective. Thus The Pauline Metaphors of the Holy Spirit examines how the Pauline Spirit
metaphors express the intangible Spirit¿s tangible presence in the life of the Christian.
Rhetoricians prior to and contemporary with Paul discussed the appropriate usage of metaphor.
Aristotle¿s thoughts provided the foundation from which these rhetoricians framed their
arguments. In this context The Pauline Metaphors surveys the use of metaphor in the
Greco-Roman world during the NT period and also studies modern approaches to metaphor. The
modern linguistic theories of substitution comparison and verbal opposition are offered as
representative examples as well as the conceptual theories of interaction
cognitive-linguistic and the approach of Zoltán Kövecses. In examining these metaphors it is
important to understand their systematic and coherent attributes. These can be divided into
structural orientational and ontological characteristics which are rooted in the conceptual
approach of metaphor asserted by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. This book evaluates these
characteristics against each of the Pauline Spirit-metaphors.
