نقش استعاره هاي مفهومي در تفكر ديني

The Role of Conceptual Metaphor in Religious Thought

The theory of "conceptual metaphor" is one of the common perspectives in cognitive sciences. This theory has had a great effect in many fields including religious studies. According to this view, metaphor is first related to humanʹs method of thinking not to his language and thinking is basically metaphorical; in other words human finds epistemological and ontological matting among different fields and for this reason he understands one field on the base of the concepts of another. I will first explain this theory and its difference with the traditional view regarding metaphor and then I will clarify its effect on religious thought and on the course of understanding religious concepts and propositions - in Islam. There is no doubt that this theory will bring about a new theory in understanding of Quranʹs verses and their effect on Islamic thought.