The Calling Metaphor in Paul's Epistles

Beginning with ancient conceptualizations of metaphor and extending to contemporary cognitive semantics, Fiva Savković first describes and elucidates metaphor as a cognitive phenomenon. By connecting these insights to speech act theory, she examines the metaphorical aspects of divine calling as used in the Old Testament and ancient Greco-Roman literature. In its main section, her study examines how the apostle Paul employed the metaphor of calling. The main insight is that Paul integrated the traditional Israelite understanding of divine calling as an integral aspect of God's creation, unfolding throughout history through his interactive engagement with humans to fulfill God's salvific plan for his people. Importantly, Paul linked this concept to the Christ event, redefining calling as God's action of bringing humans into the community of Jesus Christ, resulting in the formation of the ἐκκλησία - a community of those called by God to shape their identities in relation to Jesus Christ.