Metonymic Imagination

One sometimes hears references to a “metaphorical imagination,” but biblical imagery often works also by metonymy. It is not only that the tree of, say, Psalm 1 “stands for” strength or stability. It is that, as the Psalm makes clear by emphasizing the fruitfulness or the tree who is a righteous man.

Even when the Bible functions metaphorically, the move is not from “concrete image” to “abstract quality.” It is from concrete to concrete. The righteous man is treelike because he stands upright, produces fruit, provides shade for the weary and weak, etc etc – just like trees do. It is not so much that both trees and men display the common quality of “strength” or “stability,” but that men really are like trees. When the Bible is metaphorical, it is actually metaphorical.

In addition, however, the tree conjures a scene of abundant water, fruitful leafy trees, a forest or a garden. Tree “stands for” a scene, a historical setting or an event (as in “hung on a tree”), because it is an object associated with that scene or event. Metonymy in addition to metaphor.

And the metonymic imagination is essential. Saying the wilderness is a “place of testing” for Jesus fails to see that the wilderness temptation conjures the scene of Israel’s wanderings, and emphasizes the “Israel Christology” at work in all the gospels. The purely metaphorical imagination would miss that.