The four senses of Scripture is a four-level method of interpreting the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

. This method originated in

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...

and was taken up in

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

by the

Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...

. In

Kabbalah Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...

the four meanings of the biblical texts are literal, allusive, allegorical, and mystical. In

, the four senses are literal, allegorical, tropological and

anagogical Anagoge (ἀναγωγή), sometimes spelled anagogy, is a Greek word suggesting a "climb" or "ascent" upwards. The anagogical is a method of mystical or spiritual interpretation of statements or events, especially scriptural exegesis, that det ...

History

Judaism

, bible hermeneutics notably uses

midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...

, a Jewish method of interpreting the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Jewish laws.

Late Antiquity

The early allegorizing trait in the interpretation of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Philo Judaeus (c. 20 BC – c. 50 AD), whose allegorical reading of the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...

synthesized the traditional Jewish narratives with

Platonism Platonism is the philosophy of Plato and philosophical systems closely derived from it, though contemporary platonists do not necessarily accept all of the doctrines of Plato. Platonism had a profound effect on Western thought. Platonism at l ...

. Philo's allegorizing, in which he continued an earlier tradition, had little effect on later Jewish thought, in part because the Jewish culture of Alexandria dispersed by the fourth century.Norman F. Cantor
Civilization of the Middle Ages''
1993:40. In the 3rd century, the theologian

Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and the ...

, a graduate of

Catechetical School of Alexandria The Catechetical School of Alexandria was a school of Christian theologians and bishops and deacons in Alexandria. The teachers and students of the school (also known as the Didascalium) were influential in many of the early theological controver ...

, formulated the principle of the three senses of Scripture (literal, moral, and spiritual) from the Jewish method of interpretation used by

Paul of Tarsus Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

Epistle to the Galatians The Epistle to the Galatians is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul the Apostle to a number of Early Christian communities in Galatia. Scholars have suggested that this is either the Roman province of Galatia in southe ...

chapter 4. In the 4th century, the theologian

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...

developed this doctrine which became the four senses of Scripture.

Prudentius Aurelius Prudentius Clemens () was a Roman Christian poet, born in the Roman province of Tarraconensis (now Northern Spain) in 348.H. J. Rose, ''A Handbook of Classical Literature'' (1967) p. 508 He probably died in the Iberian Peninsula some ti ...

wrote the first surviving Christian purely allegorical freestanding work, ''

Psychomachia The ''Psychomachia'' (''Battle of Spirits'' or ''Soul War'') is a poem by the Late Antique Latin poet Prudentius, from the early fifth century AD. It has been considered to be the first and most influential "pure" medieval allegory, the first ...

'' ("Soul-War"), about AD 400. The plot consists of the personified "good" virtues of Hope, Sobriety, Chastity, Humility, etc. fighting the personified "evil" vices of Pride, Wrath, Paganism, Avarice, etc. The

personification Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their ...

s are women, because in Latin words for abstract concepts have feminine grammatical gender; an uninformed reader of the work might take the story literally as a tale of many angry women fighting one another because Prudentius provides no context or explanation of the allegory.William R. Cook and Ronald B. Herzman (2001). ''Discovering the Middle Ages''. The Teaching Company. In this same period of the early 5th century, three other authors of importance to the history of allegory emerged:

Claudian Claudius Claudianus, known in English as Claudian (; c. 370 – c. 404 AD), was a Latin poet associated with the court of the Roman emperor Honorius at Mediolanum (Milan), and particularly with the general Stilicho. His work, written almost e ...

Macrobius Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was ...

, and

Martianus Capella Martianus Minneus Felix Capella (fl. c. 410–420) was a jurist, polymath and Latin prose writer of late antiquity, one of the earliest developers of the system of the seven liberal arts that structured early medieval education. He was a nati ...

. Little is known of these authors, even if they were "truly" Christian or not. Still, we know they handed down the inclination to express learned material in allegorical form, mainly through personification, which later became a standard part of medieval schooling methods. Claudian's first work ''In Rufinum'' attacked the ruthless Rufinus and would become a model for the 12th century '' Anticlaudianus'', a well-known allegory for how to be an upstanding man. As well his ''Rape of Proserpine'' served up a litany of mythological allegories, personifications, and cosmological allegories.

Neoplatonist Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some id ...

commentators used allegory as a

rhetorical Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

, philosophical and religious devise in reading Ancient mythology,

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

,Robert Lamberton (1989). ''Homer the Theologian: Neoplatonist Allegorical Reading and the Growth of the Epic Tradition'' (London: University of California Press). and

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

.Florin Calian (2013
''“Clarifications” of Obscurity: Conditions for Proclus’s Allegorical Reading of Plato’s Parmenides''
Obscurity in Medieval Texts (Krems: Institut für Realienkunde des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit) Macrobius wrote ''Commentary of the Dream of Scipio'', providing the Middle Ages with the tradition of a favorite topic, the allegorical treatment of dreams. Lastly, Martianus Capella wrote ''De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'' ("Marriage of Philology and Mercury"), the title referring to the allegorical union of intelligent learning with the love of letters. It contained short treatises on the "

seven liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term '' art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically th ...

" (grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, music) and thus became a standard textbook, greatly influencing educators and students throughout the Middle Ages.

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480 – 524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, ''magister officiorum'', historian, and philosopher of the Early Middle Ages. He was a central figure in the t ...

, perhaps the most influential author of

Late Antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English h ...

, first introduced readers of his work '' Consolation of Philosophy'' to the personified Lady Philosophy, the source of innumerable later personified figures (such as Lady Luck, Lady Fortune, etc.)

Early Middle Ages

After Boethius, there exists no known work of allegorical literature until the 12th century. Although allegorical thinking, elements, and artwork abound during this period, it was not until the rise of the medieval university in the High Middle Ages that sustained allegorical literature appeared again.

High and Late Middle Ages

The earliest works were by Hugh of St Victor ('' Didascalicon'', 1125),

Bernard Silvestris Bernardus Silvestris, also known as Bernard Silvestris and Bernard Silvester, was a medieval Platonist philosopher and poet of the 12th century. Biography Little is known about Bernardus's life. In the nineteenth century, it was assumed that Berna ...

('' Cosmographia'', 1147), and

Alanus ab Insulis Alain de Lille (Alan of Lille) (Latin: ''Alanus ab Insulis''; 11281202/03) was a French theologian and poet. He was born in Lille, some time before 1128. His exact date of death remains unclear as well, with most research pointing toward it bei ...

(''Plaint of Nature'', 1170, and ''Anticlaudianus'') who pioneered the use of allegory (mainly personification) for abstract speculation on metaphysics and scientific questions. The High and Late Middle Ages saw many allegorical works and techniques. There were four great works from this period. * The Four Great Medieval Allegories **'' Le Roman de la Rose''. A major allegorical work, it had many lasting influences on western literature, creating entire new genres and developing vernacular languages. **''

The Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature an ...

''. Ranked amongst the greatest medieval works, both allegorically and as a work of literature; was (and remains) hugely popular. **''

Piers Plowman ''Piers Plowman'' (written 1370–86; possibly ) or ''Visio Willelmi de Petro Ploughman'' (''William's Vision of Piers Plowman'') is a Middle English allegorical narrative poem by William Langland. It is written in un- rhymed, alliterati ...

''. An encyclopedic array of allegorical devices. Dream-vision; pilgrimage; personification; satire; typological story structure (the dreamer's progress mirrors the progress of biblical history from the Fall of Adam to the Apocalypse). **''

Pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

''. In a plot based on an

, allegory; a dreamer is introduced to heavenly Jerusalem. Focus on the meaning of death. A religious response to ''Consolation of Philosophy''.

Four types of interpretation

For most medieval thinkers there were four categories of interpretation (or meaning) used in the Middle Ages, which had originated with the Bible commentators of the early Christian era.Stephen A. Barney (1989). "Allegory". ''

Dictionary of the Middle Ages The ''Dictionary of the Middle Ages'' is a 13-volume encyclopedia of the Middle Ages published by the American Council of Learned Societies between 1982 and 1989. It was first conceived and started in 1975 with American medieval historian Jos ...

''. vol-1. # The first is simply the ''

literal Literal may refer to: * Interpretation of legal concepts: ** Strict constructionism ** The plain meaning rule The plain meaning rule, also known as the literal rule, is one of three rules of statutory construction traditionally applied by ...

'' interpretation of the events of the story for historical purposes with no underlying meaning. # The second is called '' typological'': it connects the events of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

with the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

; in particular drawing allegorical connections between the events of Christ's life with the stories of the Old Testament. # The third is ''

moral A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. ...

'' (or ''

tropological Tropological reading or "moral sense" is a Christian tradition, theory, and practice of interpreting the figurative meaning of the Bible. It is part of biblical exegesis. Doctrine According to doctrine developed by the Church Fathers, the lite ...

''), which is how one should act in the present, the "moral of the story". # The fourth type of interpretation is ''

'', dealing with the future events of Christian history, heaven, hell, the last judgment; it deals with prophecies. Thus the four types of interpretation (or meaning) deal with past events (literal), the connection of past events with the present (typology), present events (moral), and the future (anagogical).

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ' ...

describes interpreting through a "four-fold method" (or "allegory of the theologians") in his

epistle An epistle (; el, ἐπιστολή, ''epistolē,'' "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as par ...

Can Grande Della Scala Cangrande (christened Can Francesco) della Scala (9 March 1291 – 22 July 1329) was an Italian nobleman, belonging to the della Scala family which ruled Verona from 1308 until 1387. Now perhaps best known as the leading patron of the poet Dante ...

. He says the "senses" of his work are not simple, but: The classic summary of fourfold exegesis is the following Latin doggerel verse, a widely known mnemonic device in medieval schools:

Lettera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria, Moralia quid agas, quo tendas, anagogia.

In English:

The literal teaches history, the allegorical, what you should believe, the moral, what you should do, the anagogical, where you are going.

Old and New Testaments

Medieval allegory began as a Christian method for synthesizing the discrepancies between the Old Testament and the New Testament. While both testaments were studied and seen as equally divinely inspired by

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

, the Old Testament contained discontinuities for Christians—for example the Jewish

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

laws. The Old Testament was therefore seen in relation to how it would predict the events of the New Testament, in particular how the events of the Old Testament related to the events of Christ's life. The events of the Old Testament were seen as part of the story, with the events of Christ's life bringing these stories to a full conclusion. The technical name for seeing the New Testament in the Old is called ''

typology Typology is the study of types or the systematic classification of the types of something according to their common characteristics. Typology is the act of finding, counting and classification facts with the help of eyes, other senses and logic. Ty ...

''.

One example of typology is the story of

Jonah Jonah or Jonas, ''Yōnā'', "dove"; gr, Ἰωνᾶς ''Iōnâs''; ar, يونس ' or '; Latin: ''Ionas'' Ben (Hebrew), son of Amittai, is a prophet in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran, from Gath-hepher of the northern Kingdom of Israel (Samaria ...

and the whale from the Old Testament. Medieval allegorical interpretation of this story is that it prefigures Christ's burial, with the stomach of the whale as Christ's tomb. Jonah was eventually freed from the whale after three days, so did Christ rise from his tomb after three days. Thus, whenever one finds an allusion to Jonah in Medieval art or literature, it is usually an allegory for the burial and resurrection of Christ. Another common typological allegory is with the four major Old Testament prophets

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

Jeremiah Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning "Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewis ...

Ezekiel Ezekiel (; he, יְחֶזְקֵאל ''Yəḥezqēʾl'' ; in the Septuagint written in grc-koi, Ἰεζεκιήλ ) is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is ac ...

, and

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

. These four prophets prefigure the four Apostles

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chi ...

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

, Luke, and

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

. There was no end to the number of analogies that commentators could find between stories of the Old Testament and the New. There also existed a tradition in the Middle Ages of ''

mythography Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...

''—the allegorical interpretation of pagan myths.

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of ...

'' and

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his '' magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

'' were standard textbooks throughout the Middle Ages, and each had a long tradition of allegorical interpretation. :"An illustrative example can be found in

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

in a painting of Christ on the cross (''Sano di Pietro's Crucifix'', 15th c). At the top of the cross can be seen a bird pecking its own breast, blood pouring forth from the wound and feeding its waiting chicks below. This is the

pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...

whose "story" was told by the Roman naturalist

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

. Thus by analogy to a "

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...

" source, Christ feeds his own children with his own blood." Mediaeval philosophers also saw allegory in the natural world, interpreting animals, plants, and even non-living things in books called

bestiaries A bestiary (from ''bestiarum vocabulum'') is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history ...

as symbols of Biblical figures and morals. For example, one bestiary compares stags with people devoted to the Church, because (according to medieval zoology) they leave their pastures for other (heavenly) pastures, and when they come to broad rivers (sin) they form in line and each rests its head on the haunches of the next (supporting each other by example and good works), speeding across the waters together.''The Book of Beasts'', trans.

T. H. White Terence Hanbury "Tim" White (29 May 1906 – 17 January 1964) was an English writer best known for his Arthurian novels, published together in 1958 as ''The Once and Future King''. One of his most memorable is the first of the series, '' The S ...

Notes

References

*Stephen A. Barney (1989). "Allegory". ''

''. vol-1. *William R. Cook and Ronald B. Herzman (2001). "Discovering the Middle Ages". The Teaching Company. {{ISBN, 1-56585-701-1 *Sylvia Huot. ''Allegorical Play in the Old French Motet''. Stanford, 1997. *Conrad Rudolph, "The Architectural Metaphor in Western Medieval Artistic Culture: From the Cornerstone to ''The Mystic Ark''," ''The Cambridge History of Religious Architecture'', ed. Stephen Murray (2016) *Conrad Rudolph, "Building the House of God: Architectural Metaphor and ''The Mystic Ark,''" ''Codex Aquilarensis: Revista de arte medieval'' (2016) Allegory Biblical exegesis Medieval literature