dissertation

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category of so-called paradigmatic metaphors that are used by writers of the EMC to
not just illustrate the shift in worldview, but also, to help effect it. That is to say, their use
of paradigmatic metaphors like chaos and holism is rhetorical: readers should come to
view reality in the same way as the opinion leader of the EMC. In combination with
what was concluded in chapter three, this insight warrants us to qualify at least some of
the literature that is produced in the Emerging-Missional milieu as rhetorical. This may
have important implications. Some of the key concepts that are often used within the
EMC are perhaps, in certain instances, not so much descriptive as they are rhetorical
tools. 139 It is possible that terms such as ‘modern’ or ‘Christendom’ function primarily
like paradigmatic metaphors in the writings of the EMC, at least in the writings of
some authors. In such cases, these concepts no longer have a clear intersubjectively
accorded content, but are meant to persuade the reader that a paradigm shift is necessary,
or that it has already occurred.
5.5 Summary and Critical Discussion
This chapter argues that opinion leaders in the EMC make abundant use of metaphoric
language because in their view, metaphors and other forms of pictorial language are the
best means of communicating with ‘postmoderns’. We note, in addition, that speaking
in (often emotionally charged) metaphors comes quite naturally to participants in the
EMC, especially for those who are – in many respects – postmodern and neo-Romantic
themselves. 140 Influential voices in the Emerging-Missional milieu, moreover, realize
that metaphors are not just linguistic comparisons for clarifying something, let alone a
second-class rate of language, but that they help constitute our view of reality by their
symbolic power. Some deeper epistemological concerns appear to be involved as well.
EMC spokesmen, especially revisionists, are seeking to take into account the notion that
people have no direct access to reality, but that this is always mediated by language – a
typically postmodern notion. Metaphors illustrate our limited potential to foundational
truth, which is in line with postmodern thinking regarding epistemology. Metaphors
are attractive, furthermore, because of their associations with dynamics, movement, and
change.
5.5.1 Critical Discussion
It goes beyond the purposes of this chapter to provide a full-fledged evaluation of the
use of metaphors within representative EMC literature. We do think it is useful, how-
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Cf. the comment of DeYoung and Kluck: “The supposed radical difference between modern spirituality
and postmodern spirituality is often nothing more than semantics....Their exaggerated use of language
makes it nearly impossible to see anything good in the modern church.” DeYoung and Kluck, Why We’re
Not Emergent, 153.
140
Note that missional authors, especially academics, generally cannot be characterized as such. Most publications
in the Emerging-Missional milieu are not written by professional scholars, however.