Allegorical interpretation of the Bible

Allegorical interpretation is an interpretive method (exegesis) which 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. It is sometimes referred to as the Quadriga, a reference to the Roman chariot drawn by four horses.

Allegorical interpretation has its origins both in Greek thought and in rabbinical schools of Judaism. In the Middle Ages it was used by Bible commentators of the Christian era.

Scriptural interpretation is sometimes referred to as the Quadriga, a reference to the Roman chariot pulled by four horses abreast. The four horses are symbolic of the four sub-methods of Scriptural interpretation. There are two main ways to interpret Scripture, further divided into three subgroups, hence the number four: Number 1: Literal/historical-critical: this is the most important and all other interpretations rely on it. Number 2a: Allegorical/Christological/Typological Number 2b: Tropological or moral Number 2c: Anagogical/Eschatological

A Latin rhyme designed to help scholars remember the four interpretations survives from the Middle Ages:

Litera gesta docet, Quid credas allegoria,

Moralis quid agas, Quo tendas anagogia.

The rhyme is roughly translated: The literal teaches what God and our ancestors did, The allegory is where our faith and belief is hid, The moral meaning gives us the rule of daily life, The anagogy shows us where we end our strife.

Origen of Alexandria, in his Treatise on First Principles, recommends that the Old and New Testaments be interpreted allegorically at three levels, the first being the "flesh," the second the "soul," and the third the "spirit." Many of the events recounted in the Scriptures, interpreted in the literal or fleshly sense, Origen claims, are impossible. Many of the laws, when interpreted literally, are impossible or nonsensical. To get at the meaning of these passages, it is necessary to interpret them allegorically. Some connected passages will contain parts that are literally true and parts that are literally impossible. In this case, says Origen, "the reader must endeavor to grasp the entire meaning, connecting by an intellectual process the account of what is literally impossible with the parts that are not impossible but historically true, these being interpreted allegorically in common with the part which, so far as the letter goes, did not happen at all."

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