Metaphorical Creativity in the Gospel of John

The current study aims to investigate the procedure of metaphorical creativity in the Gospel of John, using the “living bread” linguistic metaphor as a case study. The article is structured into three main sections. Following a brief introduction, the first section deals with the conceptual metaphor theory which serves as the methodological framework of the analysis; the second section carves out the background and textual analysis of the “living water” and “living bread” metaphors; and the third section demonstrates the interaction of the two metaphorical networks and points to the main argument that “living bread” was created through and stimulated by the well-known conventional metaphor “living water” in the conceptual system of the Gospel.