Bringing the Repertoire Together

This concluding chapter assembles the complete repertoire of proposed motifs—identity, representation, change, containment, and conduit—together with verbal affirmations for each. Summarizing conclusions from previous chapters, it describes each motif’s respective cognitive underpinnings and its distinctive entailments. It also proposes that divisions over practices such as the appropriate disposal of consecrated elements and the legitimacy of reservation and adoration have arisen from differences in these entailments and that a multiply metaphorical approach can help churches practice mutual forbearance and respect. Multiply metaphorical thinking provides access to otherwise inaccessible truths. No metaphor is the whole truth, and each unique, irreplaceable metaphor needs to be complemented and counterbalanced by others.