dissertation

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the Emerging-Missional milieu. The language of ‘chaos’ 68 in particular has a dynamic
quality to it, since “in a chaos paradigm (worldview) all theory is, in the first instance
change theory.” 69 Other metaphors in the EMC, however, also denote movement and
change. Olivia Moffat, for example, devised a dynamic metaphor to capture the culture
of change and innovation that characterizes Solace, a community in Melbourne of which
she is one of the main leaders. The metaphor was that of snowboarding: according to
Moffat, it is not just a new sport, but “a paradigm shift in viewing the world.” 70 Instead
of skiing around rough places, snowboarders look for the rough places and jump off
them. In such an environment, “change is the only constant, chaos is everywhere,” 71 and
life is not like the smooth slopes but like the rough areas that are used for snowboarding.
When authors in the EMC make up metaphors that are derived from Internet-jargon
– and this happens regularly – the emphasis on dynamism and movement is especially
strong. 72 This is because many Internet terms are themselves metaphors (e.g., surfing,
browsing, data stream, and so on) that relate to journey, mobility, and movement. 73
5.3 Heuristic Metaphors in the EMC
Above we discussed why metaphors are deemed important in the EMC. The next question
to be addressed is how they are used. This section will argue that an important use
of metaphor in the EMC is that of a heuristic instrument. 74 That is to say, by helping us
to see A as B, metaphors can help us discover new or different aspects of reality. 75 New
68
This topic is returned to below (5.4.1).
69
T.R. Young, “A Metaphysics for the Post-Modern,” The Social Dynamicist 2, no. 2 (1991), 5, as quoted in
Uri Merry, Coping with Uncertainty: Insights from the New Sciences of Chaos, Self-Organization, and Complexity
(London: Praeger, 1995), 13. Interestingly, Young calls chaos theory the “theory of the postmodern society
per excellence,” because of its message, which – in his interpretation – is that there are no stable systems or
truths. Ibid.
70
Olivia Moffat, “What Kind of Church?,” (paper presented at the E.F.A.C. Conference, Sydney, 2001)
http://old.efac.org.au/whatchurch.htm (accessed July 28, 2011).
71
Ibid.
72
Dwight Friesen, for example, presents “a relationally connective paradigm of God’s networked kingdom,”
which will help the people of God in their incarnating the mission of God. Dwight J. Friesen, Thy
Kingdom Connected: What the Church Can Learn from Facebook, the Internet, and Other Networks (Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker Books, 2009), 20. This mission is, with a nod to Star Trek, “to boldly link where no one has
linked before.” Ibid., 135.
73
Denis L. Jamet, “What Do Internet Metaphors Reveal About the Perception of the Internet?,” Metaphorik.de
18 (2010), 17-32.
74
Note that metaphors can be used for many purposes. They are used to describe, designate, divert, evoke,
exhort, exonerate, inflame, inform, instruct, persuade, shame, and – Peter Machamer adds – “sometimes to
tell the truth.” Peter Machamer, “The Nature of Metaphor and Scientific Description,” in Fernand Hallyn,
ed., Metaphor and Analogy in the Sciences (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 2000), 36. The term ‘evoke’ comes
closest to what we mean by metaphor being used as a heuristic instrument.
75
Donald Schön, “Generative Metaphor: A Perspective on Problem-Setting in Social Policy,” in Andrew
Ortony, ed., Metaphor and Thought, second ed. (Cambridge University Press, 1993), 141.