Roberta Pires de Oliveira focuses on the role of metaphors in social and religious life. In the definition of metaphor as a cognitive mapping ('seeing as') which is loaded with an evaluation of fictionality ('metaphors are fictions'), metaphor research inclines towards non-conventional language. Her specific topic of investigation concerns the relationship between a conventional metaphoric/literal utterance 'God as Father' and a novel metaphor 'God as Mother'. The observation that as a consequence of its routine use, a metaphoric expression (Father) loses its motivation on the level of single components (alienation process), inspires Pires de Oliveira to discuss the desirability of creating and consciously using novel metaphors (Mother) in order to re-establish reflection about the transcendent. (Kurt Feyaerts and Lieven Boeve)