Abstract
The paper analyses spatial metaphor in the Pauline epistles, using the Cognitive Metaphor Theory of Lakoff and Johnson, which models metaphor as accessing a more complex target domain by mapping the structure of a simpler source domain onto it. Paul’s metaphors are innovative, but their key feature is alienation, which offers a fresh perspective on familiar phenomena. For metaphor, this means foregrounding their limitations. But if metaphors make a complex domain more accessible, alienation seems inappropriate for didactic and exhortative epistles. Also, Paul’s topics are novel, and need no alienation to overcome familiarity. I put down Paul’s motivation for alienated metaphors to the novelty of his thoughts. To express these, he had to use metaphors, which are not fully precise. Thus, he alienated them to show their limitations, and to warn against taking them too far. I.e., alienation cannot only be used for de-familiarization.