Allegorical Readers and Cultural Revision in Ancient AlexandriaAllegorical readings of literary or religious texts always begin as counterreadings, starting with denial or negation, challenging the literal sense: "You have read the text this way, but I will read it differently." David Dawson insists that ancient allegory is best understood not simply as a way of reading texts, but as a way of using non-literal readings to reinterpret culture and society. Here he describes how some ancient pagan, Jewish, and Christian interpreters used allegory to endorse, revise, and subvert competing Christian and pagan world views. This reassessment of allegorical reading emphasizes socio-cultural contexts rather than purely formal literary features, opening with an analysis of the pagan use of etymology and allegory in the Hellenistic world and pagan opposition to both techniques. The remainder of the book presents three Hellenistic religious writers who each typify distinctive models of allegorical interpretation: the Jewish exegete Philo, the Christian Gnostic Valentinus, and the Christian Platonist Clement. The study engages issues in the fields of classics, history of Christianity and Hellenistic Judaism, literary criticism and theory, and more broadly, critical theory and cultural criticism. |
From inside the book
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Page 12
... ancient allegorists sought to give their own philosophy interpretative authority over traditional poetry . Defensive allegory thus protects the cultural power of traditional classical literature 12 ALLEGORICAL READERS AND CULTURAL REVISION.
... ancient allegorists sought to give their own philosophy interpretative authority over traditional poetry . Defensive allegory thus protects the cultural power of traditional classical literature 12 ALLEGORICAL READERS AND CULTURAL REVISION.
Page 13
... literature.36 This debate continues to characterize discus- sions of allegory by classicists , though recent scholarship in the field has drawn on modern hermeneutical theories as well , and there has been at least one attempt to align ...
... literature.36 This debate continues to characterize discus- sions of allegory by classicists , though recent scholarship in the field has drawn on modern hermeneutical theories as well , and there has been at least one attempt to align ...
Page 15
... literature as " New " Testament , a distinction produced in large part by christological exegesis of Hebrew scripture.50 But the claim for the uniqueness of typological meaning and its essential distinction from , and incompatibility ...
... literature as " New " Testament , a distinction produced in large part by christological exegesis of Hebrew scripture.50 But the claim for the uniqueness of typological meaning and its essential distinction from , and incompatibility ...
Page 24
... literature . This concluding survey of some opponents of etymology and allegory , together with the preceding consideration of some advocates , will illus- trate different pagan hermeneutical models available to Philo , Valentinus , and ...
... literature . This concluding survey of some opponents of etymology and allegory , together with the preceding consideration of some advocates , will illus- trate different pagan hermeneutical models available to Philo , Valentinus , and ...
Page 25
David Dawson. Cornutus identifies such fragments of myth embedded in literature and interprets their philosophical and cosmological truth.3 Cornutus explains that sometimes the poets preserved ancient myths in such a way that even though ...
David Dawson. Cornutus identifies such fragments of myth embedded in literature and interprets their philosophical and cosmological truth.3 Cornutus explains that sometimes the poets preserved ancient myths in such a way that even though ...
Contents
23 | |
24 | |
38 | |
52 | |
PHILO THE REINSCRIPTION OF REALITY | 73 |
Jewish Allegory and Hellenism | 74 |
Representation and Textualization | 83 |
The World within the Text | 113 |
CLEMENT THE NEW SONG OF THE Logos | 183 |
Logos Theology as Allegorical Hermeneutic | 186 |
The Antecedent Voice of Cultural Classics | 199 |
Sectarianism and Dometicated Gnōsis | 219 |
AFTERWORD | 235 |
NOTES | 241 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 297 |
GENERAL INDEX | 319 |
VALENTINUS THE APOCALYPSE OF THE MIND | 127 |
Allegorical Interpretation as Composition | 129 |
Mystical Vision and Allegorical Revision | 145 |
Christian Initiation and the History Within | 170 |
SCRIPTURE PASSAGES CITED | 333 |
ANCIENT PASSAGES CITED | 335 |
Other editions - View all
Allegorical Readers and Cultural Revision in Ancient Alexandria David Dawson No preview available - 1992 |
Common terms and phrases
Adam aeons Alexandrian allegorical interpretation allegorical reading ancient Aristeas Aristobulus authority Basilides biblical Cambridge catachresis character Christ claim Clement Clement of Alexandria contrast Cornutus Cornutus's Criticism cultural deities distinction divine logos Early Christian edited Egypt Epidr etymology expression Father frag fragment Genesis gnōsis Gnostic Gnostic myth Gospel of Truth Greek Harvard Univ Hebrew scripture Hellenism Hellenistic Heraclitus Heraclitus's hermeneutical Hesiod History Homer human insights intratextual Jesus Jewish Christianity Jews John Judaism Justin language Layton lexical linguistic literal literary Literature Loeb Classical Library meaning metaphor Middle Platonists Moses narrative nonliteral readings Numenius original pagan Pantaenus passage Pentateuch personification Philo philosophical Plato Plutarch poets Press Protr readers reading of scripture reality realm revision revisionary reading rhetorical Roman sense Septuagint soul speaks Stoic Strom symbol textual Theology things tion tradition translation typology Valentinian Valentinus Valentinus's voice wisdom words writing York Zeus