Four Sense of Scripture

The study of the Bible has long held four senses in which one could read scripture: the literal, allegorical, moral, and anagogical sense (the latter three often lumped together into the spiritual sense).

The literal sense is the clearest, meaning exactly what it says (which, I suppose, is the opposite of ironic). This is the sense most commonly bantered around in discussions of the age of the earth and more particularly, the book of Revelation.

The allegorical sense is also pretty simple. We've talked about this a bit in class, but it also includes the idea of types. So when we say the passing through the Red Sea is a prefigurement of Baptism, we are reading scripture in the allegorical sense.

The moral sense of scripture involves reading scripture in order to act justly. This does not mean using the Bible literally as a rule of living (as a literal sense would) but rather using what the Bible gives as instruction, such as the wisdom books.

The anagogical is probably the one most of you have never heard of, much less understand what it means. The word anagogy comes from the Greek anagoge which means "leading." The anagogical sense of scripture involves reading it for a glimpse of eternity, reading everything in light of its eternal significance.

An old medieval saying sums it all up:

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

"The letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith; the Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny."