Researcher basic information

• BTh Theology, Westminster Institute of Education
• MA Biblical Studies, University of Birmingham
• MA Applied Linguistics, University of Birmingham
• PhD English Language, University of Birmingham

• https://researchmap.jp/Peter?lang=en

• https://jglobal.jst.go.jp/detail?JGLOBAL_ID=201301002291369620

• 201301002291369620

• Cognitive Models
• Religious Language
• Metaphor
• Cognitive Linguistics

• Humanities & Social Sciences, English linguistics, Cognitive Linguistics and Religious Language

Research activity information

• Jul. 2012, RaAM 9: Metaphor in Mind and Society Conference, Best PhD Paper
  Clear Paths: A Study of the Interaction between Metaphors Related to Movement and Certainty in Christian and Muslim Testimonials
  Peter Richardson

• Blind beholding: Schemas, metaphor, and blending in descriptions of seemingly opposing religious experiences
  Peter Richardson; Charles M. Mueller
  Metaphor and the Social World, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 14 Jul. 2026
  Scientific journal, Abstract
  
  This paper examines how contemporary Christian contemplative discourse integrates two apparently opposed construals of religious experience: relational intimacy with a divine entity and non-conceptual states of pure awareness. We argue that relational intimacy is conceptualized through warmth, connection, spatial proximity, shared will, and resonance, underpinned by a linked goal schematic structure. By contrast, non-conceptual awareness is conceptualized through release, falling, dropping out, darkness, and the cessation of attentional movement, while also exhibiting various degrees of source - path - goal attenuation. Despite their apparent incompatibility, this paper argues that conceptual blending allows these perceived experiences to be encapsulated within a single framework of belief and practice. Focusing on Cynthia Bourgeault’s (2016) The Heart of Centering Prayer , we demonstrate how her use of the metaphor scenario of entering the cloud, drawn from the Christian mystical classic The Cloud of Unknowing , offers one such example. The analysis shows how metaphor and blending enable contemporary contemplative discourse to negotiate the social and theological boundary between Christian relational theism and nondual spirituality.
• Religious Discourse
  Charles M. Mueller; Peter Richardson
  International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 447, 451, Elsevier, 2026
  In book
• Killing in the name: Contemporary Evangelical Christian interpretations of the Jericho massacre in the context of anti-immigration and anti-Muslim trends
  Richardson, P.; Pihlaja, S.
  Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts and Contemporary Worlds, forthcoming, Jun. 2022, [Peer-reviewed]
  English, Scientific journal
• Contested paths: Analyzing unfolding metaphor usage in a debate between Dawkins and Lennox
  Peter Richardson; Charles M. Mueller
  Metaphor and the Social World, 12, 1, 138, 158, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 07 Feb. 2022
  Scientific journal, Abstract
  
  Recent studies of metaphor usage (e.g.,Cameron, 2011;Semino et al., 2013) have shifted focus from relatively static mappings between source and target domains towards an emphasis on how metaphors are appropriated and recontextualized across different genres to convey new meanings and serve new functions. More recently, this emphasis has begun to be applied to the study of metaphor usage in religious discourse (Pihlaja, 2014;Richardson, 2017;Richardson et al., 2021). The current article investigates how metaphors of movement are used in conjunction with metonymy, force dynamics, and conceptual blending to create particular rhetorical effects in a debate between the atheist Richard Dawkins and the Christian apologist John Lennox. It demonstrates how previous figurative language is expanded and reconfigured during the course of the debate in an attempt to establish situated, dominant conceptualizations.
• Talking about oneself
  Charles M. Mueller; Peter Richardson
  Journal of Second Language Studies, 5, 2, 344, 363, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 31 Dec. 2021
  Scientific journal, Abstract
  
  Second language instructors often have students talk about their own experiences rather than abstract impersonal topics. Intuitively, such topics seem more likely to encourage student engagement. Unfortunately, virtually no empirical research has examined the effects of personal prompts on spoken output. To address this gap in research, the current study (N = 117) compares the spoken output of Japanese university English students who responded to a personal prompt with students responding to an impersonal prompt. Output was recorded in transcripts and then analyzed using a battery of measures related to complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Findings showed that personalized prompts were associated with greater fluency. Moreover, there was some evidence that impersonal prompts led to output with greater lexical complexity. Rates of accuracy were similar in both groups. Correlational analysis suggested that lexical sophistication was associated with reduced fluency. The conclusion addresses practical implications and avenues for further research.
• Blasphemy and persecution: Positioning in an inter-religious discussion
  Peter Richardson; Stephen Pihlaja; Miori Nagashima; Masako Wada; Makoto Watanabe; Baramee Kheovichai
  Text & Talk, 40, 1, 75, 98, Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 28 Jan. 2020
  Scientific journal, Abstract
  
  In May 2017, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, popularly known as Ahok, the former Christian governor of Jakarta, Indonesia, was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to two years in prison. Although he was released in January 2019, his trial and the various reactions it elicited continue to highlight the very sensitive and complex issues surrounding the notion and enforcement of blasphemy and how different communities talk about it. This article focuses on a discussion about the trial between an Indonesian Muslim in favor of the blasphemy charge and an Indonesian Christian opposed to it. Using positioning analysis, it investigates how their conversation in English at a University in Japan exhibited an occasioned, fluid, developing range of evaluative language, both in terms of how they talked about themselves and others. The analysis demonstrates the complex interplay and consistent tension that is often present in inter-religious dialogue, and tracks how a wide array of discourse and contextual factors relate to developing positions, storylines, expressions of social power, and strategies for conflict management. We conclude by highlighting the inherent complexity of the dynamics of such interaction and how it can lead to greater convergence and/or tension, while emphasizing the potential benefits of face-to-face conversations around issues of possible conflict.
• Moving yet being still: Exploring source domain reversal and force in explanations of enlightenment
  Richardson, P.; Mueller, C. M.
  Language and Cognition, 11, 2, 310, 339, Apr. 2019
• Perceptions of danger and co-occurring metaphors in Buddhist dhamma talks and Christian sermons
  Richardson, P.; Nagashima, M.
  Cognitive Linguistic Studies, 5, 1, 133, 154, 2018
• An investigation of the blocking and development of empathy in discussions with Muslim and Christian believers
  Peter Richardson
  Metaphor and the Social World, 7, 1, 46, 64, Jun. 2017, [Peer-reviewed]
  English, Scientific journal
• Book review: S. Pihlaja (2014) Antagonism on YouTube: Metaphor in Online Discourse
  Peter Richardson
  Metaphor and the Social World, 7, 1, 152, 157, Jun. 2017, [Peer-reviewed]
  English
• Violence, belief, and viewpoint: A cognitive poetic analysis of fictional narratives relating to radical Islam
  Peter Richardson
  Media and Communication Studies, Hokkaido University: (http://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/journals/index.php?jname=263), 68, 23, 56, 北海道大学大学院メディア・コミュニケーション研究院 = Research Faculty of Media and Communication, Hokkaido University, Apr. 2015, [Peer-reviewed]
  English, Scientific journal, There is an important need for both non-Muslims and mainstream Muslims to explore and try to understand the motivations and reasoning behind the global phenomenon of radical Islam. Novels and short stories related to radical Islam can be useful tools to encourage people to explore these issues. However, different authors have different perspectives and ideologies,and portray religious extremism in very different ways. This article therefore provides a framework of analysis for critically exploring the views of the author of a fictional text,and then applies it to an analysis of two contemporary novels and a short story which relate in some way to radical Islamic fundamentalism:Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentlist (2007), Updike's Terrorist (2007), and Amis's The Last Days of Muhammad Atta (2008). This framework draws on cognitive poetics, an approach that specialises in analysing types of narration and the construction of fictional worlds, and empathy research. It is also underpinned by one of the key ideas of critical discourse analysis that the authors of texts often use language to represent knowledge about something in a way that assumes the validity of their ideologies. This article argues that Hamid's novel focuses on a de-theologised sociological and political perspective that views some forms of radicalisation as the result of negative elements within American foreign policy and society. In contrast, Amis's short story focuses on a perspective which views some forms of radical Islamic belief as a manifestation of serious psychological dysfunction, with elements of sociocultural dysfunction. I argue that only Updike's novel attempts to represent and explore competing perspectives. He empathizes with the idea that embracing extreme, absolute forms of religious belief could be an attractive response to particular elements in modern society,such as consumerism and moral and theological relativism, and the erosion of traditional Christian and Jewish identities. However, he also explores the delusional and dangerous elements of extremism. I conclude by noting some key connections between Updike's exploration and academic research into aspects of conservative and radical forms of religious belief,while also highlighting the importance of narratives relating to radical Islam that examine competing perspectives.
• A closer walk: A study of the interaction between metaphors related to movement and proximity and presuppositions about the reality of belief in Christian and Muslim testimonials
  Peter Richardson
  Metaphor and the Social World, 2, 2, 233, 262, Dec. 2012, [Peer-reviewed]
  English, Scientific journal

• Modern Buddhist and Christian Mysticism
  Charles M. Mueller; Peter Richardson, 23 Jan. 2025, [Last author]
  Routledge
• Cognitive linguistics and religious language: An introduction
  Peter Richardson; Charles M. Mueller; Stephen Pihlaja, Cognitive Linguistics and Religious Language: An Introduction, 1, 163, 01 Jan. 2021
  Taylor and Francis, English, Others

• Religion, danger and metaphor: An analysis of Christian sermons and Buddhist dharma talks
  Peter Richardson
  14th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Jul. 2017, English, Oral presentation
  [International presentation]
• Patterns of certainty in metaphor usage in a debate about the existence of God
  Peter Richardson
  13th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Jul. 2015, English, Oral presentation
  [International presentation]
• Ultimate Destinations: A Study of the Interaction between Certainty and Language Related to Purposeful Movement in Christian and Muslim Testimonials.
  Peter Richardson
  4th UK Cognitive Linguistics Conference, 22 Jul. 2012, English, Oral presentation
  [International presentation]
• Clear Paths: A Study of the Interaction between Metaphors Related to Movement and Certainty in Christian and Muslim Testimonials
  Peter Richardson
  RaAM 9: Metaphor in Mind and Society Conference, 08 Jul. 2012, English, Oral presentation
  [International presentation]

• The impact of globalization on religious discourse and the possibility of constructing peaceful dialogue between different religious faiths
  5 year grant, type: B: value: 11 million yen
  Apr. 2016 - Mar. 2020
  Peter Richardson
  KAKENHI Research Grant, Principal investigator, Competitive research funding