Christianity, Metaphor, and the Urge to Truth
Unburdening from the Absolute
- Philosophy
- Publisher: Cascade Books (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2025
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Publisher's Description
Christianity, Metaphor, and the Urge to Truth explores the role of metaphor in Christian thought. In it Barry Stephenson challenges the secularized consciousness that often dismisses symbolic thinking, delving into foundational Christian concepts such as sin, atonement, Christology, and divine violence through the lens of metaphor theory and philosophical anthropology. Drawing on the insights of Hans Blumenberg, the book invites readers to reengage with the enduring relevance of religious ideas in a way that transcends rigid literalism, offering a nuanced approach to understanding Christianity in the modern world.
Endorsements (2)
“This book is an invitation to (re)turn to metaphor in order to understand ourselves as human and our common place in this mysterious thing called existence, at a time when that very existence is under severe threat from climate change and rising authoritarianism. This is a timely invitation for a disenchanted modernity and retrenched religion, from an author who takes both seriously while understanding the limits of both modernity and religion.”
“In Christianity, Metaphor, and the Urge to Truth, Barry Stephenson reclaims metaphor and myth as essential to religious thought in a secular age. Drawing on Hans Blumenberg and philosophical anthropology, Stephenson offers a bold reorientation of Christian theology beyond literalism and absolutism. A vital and imaginative contribution to the history of ideas.”
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