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Through a metaphor analysis of Rerum novarum and Quadragesimo Anno this research aims to establish a framework for bringing together the discourse fields of Catholic social teaching and social economy. The thesis is that metaphor analysis reveals the presence of theological root metaphors of great motivational and transformative power for individuals and communities. The inspiration for the research is an observation in the secular literature that language, narrative, and symbolic systems are insufficiently investigated by empirical sciences seeking principles of societal transformation. Rerum novarum and Quadragesimo anno feature in this litearature as having had a powerful impact in promoting transformative economic practices in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Metaphor as a research methoodology, is particularly suited to religious discourse since all major religions are grounded in root metaphors. Science also is discovering the ubiquity of metaphor in its processes of conceptualization. Metaphor aanlaysis thus presents itself as a bridge for cross-disciplinary research. Chapter One presents a literature review of the use of metaphor in discourse fields relevant to Catholic social teaching. George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s cognitive semantic approach is reviewed first as this has served as ground for much contemporary metaphor studies across all disciplines. Then follows a review of the impact of metaphor studies on morality, religious discourse, economic discourse and critical discourse studies. Critical metaphor analysis (CMA) is a structured method devised by Jonathan Charteris-Black with the intention of making results of metaphor analysis maximally available across disciplines. Chapter Two elaborates this method and applies it to Rerum novarum. The analysis reveals the presence of a redemption theme characterised as the threefold Exodus pattern of Liberation-Covenant-Worship. The Body of Christ metaphor and an extensive soteriological vocabulary that maps readily onto Scripture are also revealed. Moreover, the Covenant ethic is shown to coherently frame the controverted defense of private property. Chapter Three extends the metaphor analysis to Quadragesimo anno, focusing on that part of the encyclical dealing with the reconstruction of the social order. Quadragesimo anno is written in quite a different style to Rerum novarum yet the presence of overlapping soteriological language provides initial evidence that the two documents share an interpretativeframe. Conventional metaphors, i.e, metaphoric expressions that have become conventionalised in ordinary language usage, are more in evidence than religious metaphors and there is also a wide array of metaphors drawn from the lexical field of battle. The term ‘reconstruction’ is itself shown to have a ‘war’ association but in fact it is ‘restoration’ which is more frequently used in relation to the social order and this is a term with the associated meaning of ‘redemption’ and ‘salvation’. In the final part of the Chapter the results of the study are put in dialogue with two theologians and a discourse analyst. This reveals possibilities for extending the discourse of CST and also ares of tension. A final Conclusion shows possibilities for the potential crossdisciplinary dialogue through the metaphors of (social) economy, land/Covenant and body, and makes recommendations for extending the research.