Conceptual Metaphor and Functions of the Conceptual Metaphor of God In the Bible Old Testament

Abstract

              This research was conducted to investigate the conceptual metaphor of God in Christianity used in the Bible (Old Testament) (39 Books, including 929 verses) using Conceptual Metaphor Theory- CMT by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) to examine words, metaphors, and functions of the conception.

              The results revealed many metaphorical expressions in terms of nouns, verbs, and phrases. There were nine different conceptual metaphors; 1) God is a supreme being, 2) God is a teacher, 3) God is a doctor, 4) God is an army leader, 5) God is a shelter, 6) God is a father, 7) God is a sheepherder, 8) God is light, and 9) God is food. There are three functions of conveying ideas of conceptual metaphors: 1) The function of explaining abstract ideas using patterns or analogies, 2) The duty of being a reason to encourage the listener to do or not do something, 3) The duty of formulating ideas. The results indicated that metaphorical words could give readers a more concrete understanding of the nature of God.