From an important passage on his "The Literal Interpretation of Genesis" (early fifth century, AD), St. Augustine wrote: For a more constructive approach to allegory as a literary mode see Gerald Bostock, 'Allegory and the Interpretation of the Bible in Origen', in Journal of LiteratuR and Theology 1, (1987), !J9-5!J. The position of the Spiritualist is not that which is properly indicated by the term. What is an allegory? scripture. So then, in accounts of things done, what one asks is whether they are all to be taken as only having a figurative meaning, or whether they are also to be asserted and defended as a faithful account of what actually happened. At bottom, only one story is told anywhere in scripture: the redemption of mankind by Christ. 23), Israel as a destroyed vine (Psa. of Allegorical interpretation of the Bible is an interpretive method that assumes that the Bible has various levels of meaning and tends to focus on the spiritual sense, which includes the allegorical sense, the moral (or tropological) sense, and the anagogical sense, as opposed to the literal sense. from 'Fundamentalism' and the Word of God (Inter-Varsity Press, 1958), pp. Augustine offered two allegorical interpretations of the meaning of the six days. [1] 1. In 450 Eucherius of Lyons published his handbook on interpretation, “ Rules for Allegorical Interpretation.” 8. according to the spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church" 81). A preference for allegorical interpretation - Finally, Augustine was influenced by the popular allegorical interpretation of Scripture, particularly of The Book of Revelation. But what exactly is allegorical (also known as mystical1 ) interpretation and where did it come from? . A common charge against Christianity was that it was a … Augustine (AD 354-430), perhaps Christendom’s most preeminent theologian apart from the apostle Paul, was drawn to the Alexandrian approach to interpreting Scripture by Ambrose, his spiritual mentor. Augustine, as well, held a view of scripture that examined passages from an allegorical perspective.As a result, he argued that truths might be intended by God in scripture that the human author had not intended: "So when one person has said 'Moses thought what I say', and another 'No what I say', I think it more religious in spirit to say 'Why not rather say both, if both are true?' The river Euphrates means the outflow of manners and is not an actual literal river in Mesopotamia. Augustine. For it is only the share of the plough that cuts through the earth; but the other parts of the plough are essential to make this operation possible. History is when things done by God or man are recounted; allegory when they are understood as being said figuratively; analogy, when the harmony of the old and new covenants is being demonstrated; aetiology, when the causes of the things that have been said and done are presented. Augustine undertakes to interpret Gen. 1:2-31 in a mystical and allegorical fashion so as to exhibit the profundities of God's power and wisdom and love. Thus, interpretation steered his spiritual history, from heretic to skeptic to catholic. 12 The influence of Plato led him to emphasize symbolism and allegory with less motivation to defend Scripture in its historical sense. The future ethereal New Jerusalem was where all would be fulfilled, rather than in any renewed version of this world. He even goes further in this direction than the Gnostics, who everywhere saw transcendental, unfathomable mysteries.”10, [Origen] lays down the principle that the true meaning of prophecy is to be found only by going beyond the literal and historical sense to the spiritual; and he says specifically of the Apocalypse that the mysteries hidden in it can be understood only in this way. 5. (On Christian Teaching 2.9.14), The fulfillment and end of the law and all the divine scriptures is to love the thing which must be enjoyed and the thing which together with us can enjoy that thing… Anyone who thinks that he has understood the divine scriptures or any part of them, but cannot by his understanding build up this double love of God and neighbor, has not yet succeeded in understanding them. Augustine’s interpretation of Scripture and his methods of interpretation set the church up for the next thousand years after him. 22 J. 19 Crutchfield, “Revelation in the New Testament,” 25. After the time of Augustine, the use of allegory to interpret God’s Word dominated the church throughout the dark ages. This is so much the case, that Peter Brown has said that “the last three books of his Confessions are in many ways the most strictly autobiographical part of the whole book.”[4] If you haven’t read the Confessions, the last three books are a relentless, kaleidoscopic, and dizzying interpretation of the first chapters of Genesis. A person who does not grow in love does not truly understand the scriptures, even if that person knows a lot about the scriptures. ( Log Out /  Even today, Augustinian eschatology is held by large segments of the Christian church.15. It takes that which God has graciously revealed to the saints and subjects it to the dark vagaries of human imagination and speculation. The Fathers believed that, by doing allegorical readings of Scripture, they were following the practices they found in Scripture. At times it has simply been unbelief: As someone has said, “The Book of Revelation isn’t hard to understand—it’s hard to believe!” The main reason why so many have resorted to allegorical interpretations is that they have found the literal meaning of its prophecies difficult to accept, scientifically, and aesthetically, and have tried to “explain” them on some less offensive basis.17, Metaphysical cults, theosophical cults, divine science cults, pantheistic cults all base their interpretation of Holy Scripture on the theory that the meaning of Scripture is plural. Even Josephus has nothing of it.7, Two names stand out in Alexandrian Jewish allegorization: Aristobulus and Philo. The first meaning is the ordinary historical or grammatical one; and the second meaning is the one the cultist brings to Scripture from the particular metaphysical system or religious system he is pushing.18. There is a difference between an allegorical interpretation (the way you read the Bible) and the genre of allegory. Augustine got around this by refusing to take scripture at face value – and instead accept it as allegorical And one will discover that Augustine … [2] History, andthus "literal" interpretation, was a phenomenal matter and therefore not ofgreat importance. And, indeed, if all are figures, where will be that of which they are the figures? But, in truth, all are not figures, but there are also literal statements.”. Allegorical interpretation of the liturgy was totally rejected during the period of liturgical reform, and even earlier by liturgists who tended towards rationalistic or reductionistic explanations (Fr. They each and all fail to explain the facts and relations of the record, and treat John as a half-demented sentimental old man, trying to make a grand poem out of a few dim anticipations touching the earthly fortunes of the Church, which could have been better told in one well-written chapter. Dr. D’Ambrosio cites one such exegesis by St. Augustine, who interpreted the parable of the good Samaritan in such a way that the man who fell among robbers was the … THE MIDDLE AGES The Middle Ages was a time that was dominated by allegorical interpretation. The position of the Spiritualist is not that which is properly indicated by the term. Scripture means the space of a day and a night, and afterwards no more says day and night, but calls them both under the name of the more important: a custom which you will find throughout Scripture. Adrian Fortescue comes to mind, although he was fortunately inconsistent). [2] Without naming Augustine, John Calvin responds to this kind of interpretation in characteristically blunt fashion: “The allegory which is here contrived by the advocates of free will is too absurd to deserve refutation… I acknowledge that I have no liking for any of these interpretations; but we ought to have a deeper reverence for Scripture than to reckon ourselves … ( Log Out /  So where did this tendency begin? . Origen did not invent his interpretive techniques. After reading Cicero and being stirred for a love of wisdom, Augustine turned to the Bible to seek wisdom there. As we’ve observed in the origination of this method of interpretation, there was a motive for its use. The priest is the Law, and the Levites are the Prophets. sought to defend the Old Testament to the Greeks and, even more so, to fellow Jews. The donkey is Christ’s physical body, which bears the burden of the wounded … Some Bible scholars believe that Augustine’s allegorising is nothing like the New Testament’s way of interpreting the Old, and the latter cannot therefore be a precedent for the former. Change ). 1. 11:3. These works had included such ideas as taking the days of Genesis 1 as 7 epochs of redemptive … Again using allegorical interpretation of Ps 121:1-2 “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 3 Richard Chenevix Trench, Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in Asia (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1861), 185. Origen was a Hellenistic scholar who was thought to have been born in Egypt and educated in Alexandria around 185. Article Images Copyright © 2021 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. It has already been mentioned that Augustine changed his hermeneutical approach in his Genesis commentaries. Thus, Augustine discusses in this book “the process of discovering” and “the process of presenting.”. The Literalist is not one who denies that figurative language, that symbols are used in prophecy, nor does he deny that great spiritual truths are set forth therein; his position is simply, that the prophecies are to be normally interpreted (i.e., according to the received laws of language) as any other utterances are interpreted-that which is manifestly literal being regarded as literal, and that which is manifestly figuratively being so regarded. Many … . The terms properly expressive of the schools are normal and mystical.” John Peter Lange, 7.3. In his early life He was educated primarily by his father, Leonides, who was martyred in 202 under the persecution of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus (A.D. 193-211). Augustine’s personal history can also be viewed through the same lens. It hides the truth from the ignorant, whose eyes are blinded by sin and pride, hence they are prevented from the knowledge of the truth. Perhaps the author too saw that very meaning in the words which we are trying to understand. These works had included such ideas as taking the days of Genesis 1 as 7 epochs of redemptive-historical history, and 7 stages of the Christian life.De Genesis contra Manichaeos 1.23.35-1.25.43, in Augustine, On Genesis, 62-68. share | improve this question | follow | edited Mar 24 '12 at 16:58. 115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. Augustine learned that the Old Testament could be interpreted in a figurative or allegorical sense in such a way that what Augustine had previously thought problematic and uncouth could now be read in a salutary way.' 7 George H. N. Peters, The Theocratic Kingdom (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1978, 1884), 50. They are, at best, the wild guesses of men who have never got hold of the real thread of the matter, whilst under the necessity of saying something.23. has been cherished in almost all ages of the Church by some, who have been unable to translate the figurative language of Scripture into those far more glorious realities of the heavenly πολιτεία [politeia] , whereof those figures were the vesture and the outward array. The allegorical method suggests that there is deeper meaning underneath the literal text. And Tradition, p. 28 2 the correct interpretation of Scripture L. Thomas, Revelation 1-7 (,. Played a major part in Augustine ’ s personal history can also be viewed through the same lens George N.! Was not sent - check your email addresses my help cometh from the Lord, which Christians! Your details below or click an icon to Log in: You are commenting using your Facebook account takes! 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