METAPHOR
150justice) should not be done? See also
JUSTICE.
METAPHOR. From the Greek meta-
phora, meaning “to transfer or transform.”
Metaphors are typically derived from
nonmetaphorical literal language that is
transferred to a new context based on
a presumed analogy. In the statement
“Your dictionary is a breath of fresh air,”
“fresh air” is a metaphorical attribution.
Some distinguish between live and dead
metaphors. A dead metaphor, sometimes
called a cliché, is a usage that is so com-
mon that it fails in terms of vividness,
surprise, or the making of a novel con-
nection. For example, “When you left me,
you broke my heart.” See also RELIGIOUS
LANGUAGE.
METAPHYSICS. Theories of what exists.
Some use the term to designate entities
that are posited beyond empirical obser-
vation, but such usage is not standard.
Metaphysics is difficult to escape. Even to
claim, “I doubt the reliability of meta-
physics” makes a claim about what exists
(the self and doubt, for starters).
METEMPSYCHOSIS. See
TRANSMIGRATION.
METHOD / METHODLOGY. There
are a variety of methods employed in
philosophy of religion such as phenome-
nology and analytical philosophy with
its premium on conceptual analysis.
Some philosophers make an important
distinction between a presupposition in
methodo logy and the truth of that
presupposition. For example, someone
may embrace methodological naturalism
(assume that all explanations are in
terms of natural, non-theistic or non-
supernatural causes) and yet not accept
the truth of naturalism. Historical studies
of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles that
embrace methodological naturalism
typically seek to either explain away or
not affirm acts of God or miracles. A
non-theistic historian is more likely to
treat prophecies about the future (as
in Luke 21:20) as cases of vaticinium ex
eventu (cases of when the writer is
predicting an event that has already
occurred) than if the historian is a theist
who believes that there may be authentic
God-inspired knowledge of the future.
A historian who is not open to the possi-
bility of divine agency is akin to the natu-
ral scientist who rules out libertarian
freedom. The latter will never allow the
appeal to irreducible free agency to stand.MIDDLE KNOWLEDGE. The concept
of middle knowledge was introduced to
account for divine foreknowledge and
future free action. Middle knowledge con-
sists of knowing what free agents would
decide given certain states of affairs
which may or may not obtain. An instance