Robert Maier (University of Utrecht, The Netherlands) concentrates on two general issues, the concepts of religion and metaphor. The first question concerns a working definition of what can be called in cognitive semantic terms the 'target' of the semiotic investigation presented here: religion. The concept of religion Maier has in mind in formulating his definition is a broad, non-specific one which does not presuppose any form of transcendent reality, but is related to a 'holistic conception of reality'. The second part of the contribution brings to light aspects of religious communication and presents an overview of three families of theoretical metaphor research, each of which is relevant for analysing religion as well as religious communication: 1) substitution theory as it is applied on the level of isolated words, 2) interactionism and 3) pragmatic, reinterpretation theories. (Lieven Boeve and Kurt Feyaerts)