One of the most important shifts in recent theology has been the move away from understanding theological statements as dogmatic propositions about metaphysical realities, towards exploring the way in which they function as narratives, metaphors and models. Here Sallie McFague examines how religious language, the language of images and metaphors, becomes theological language, that of models and concepts. In particular she asks how this can happen without leading to the idolatry and irrelevance which are so often the accompaniment of traditional doctrinal claims.