Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Printing

1. Toward a Metaphorical Theology

The Problem of Religious Language

The Idolatry of Religious Language

The Irrelevance of Religious Language

Can Religious Language Be Revitalized?

Metaphorical Theology

2. Metaphor, Parable, and Scripture

Metaphor

Parable

Scripture

3. Models in Science

Models in the Social Sciences and Technology

Natural Science, the Humanities, and the Imagination

Paradigms

Types of Models and Two Views of Models in Science

Central Insights from Scientific Models Pertinent to Theology

4. Models in Theology

Differences Between Scientific and Theological Models

Parable, Paradigm, and Root-Metaphor in Christianity

Creeds: Models or Dogmas?

Models and Concepts

The Truth of Theological Models

Criteria for Theological Models

5. God the Father: Model or Idol?

Partriarchy in Perspective

Revolutionary Feminist Theology: A new Paradigm and a new Model

Reformist Feminist Theology: The Search for New Models

God the Friend

Conclusion

Notes

Index of Authors