Biblical Hermeneutics
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PRINCIPLES OF BIBLICAL HERMENETICS ; M. M. NINAN<br />
Allegorical interpretation is an interpretive method which assumes that the Bible has various<br />
levels of meaning and tends to focus on the spiritual sense (which comprises the allegorical<br />
sense, the moral (or tropological) sense, and the anagogical sense) as opposed to the literal<br />
sense of scripture. It is sometimes referred to as the Quadriga, a reference to the Roman<br />
Quadriga, a chariot drawn by four horses<br />
The Quadriga is often explained through a<br />
Latin rhyme:<br />
Littera gesta docet, quid credas Allegoria, Moralis quid agas, quo tendas Anagogia.<br />
The Literal teaches deeds,<br />
what you believe Allegory,<br />
Moral how you act,<br />
where you are going Anagogical.<br />
The four methods of interpretation point in four different directions:<br />
The literal/historical backwards to the past,<br />
the anagogic forwards to the future,<br />
the tropological downwards to the moral/human, and<br />
the allegorical upwards to the spiritual/heavenly.<br />
The method has its origins in both Greek thought (which tried to avoid the literal<br />
interpretations of ancient Greek myths) and in the rabbinical schools of the Land of Israel.<br />
Most notably of pre-Christian authors Philo of Alexandria expressly refers to its use by his<br />
predecessors and uses it himself to discover indications of different doctrines of philosophy in<br />
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