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. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1992. Allegorical 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 alle |
From inside the book
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Page 1
... expressing the spiritual depths of religious texts , especially the Bible.3 On this view , allegorical readers discover the " deeper " or " more spiritual " meaning hidden beneath " the letter " of scripture , expressing their ...
... expressing the spiritual depths of religious texts , especially the Bible.3 On this view , allegorical readers discover the " deeper " or " more spiritual " meaning hidden beneath " the letter " of scripture , expressing their ...
Page 5
... expression " War is a chess game " imag- inatively identifies one object ( war ) with another ( the game of chess ) , ascribing to the first some aspect of the second . It has become customary to distinguish between a metaphor's tenor ...
... expression " War is a chess game " imag- inatively identifies one object ( war ) with another ( the game of chess ) , ascribing to the first some aspect of the second . It has become customary to distinguish between a metaphor's tenor ...
Page 6
... expression . In this way , the etymologist could counter charges of hermeneutical willfulness with the claim to have uncovered the original foundations of meaning . Like metaphor and personification , etymology does produce an alternate ...
... expression . In this way , the etymologist could counter charges of hermeneutical willfulness with the claim to have uncovered the original foundations of meaning . Like metaphor and personification , etymology does produce an alternate ...
Page 9
... expression to dominant views ; these patterns of value vary widely depending on place , time , and circumstance . Thus my notion of " reigning ideals " is formal until further specified . Likewise , the terms " conservative ...
... expression to dominant views ; these patterns of value vary widely depending on place , time , and circumstance . Thus my notion of " reigning ideals " is formal until further specified . Likewise , the terms " conservative ...
Page 14
... expression of the absence of meaning and ancient apophatic ( or " negative " ) theology.46 Endorsing the Romantic contrast between symbol and allegory , many modern Christian theologians and historians of biblical exegesis have made ...
... expression of the absence of meaning and ancient apophatic ( or " negative " ) theology.46 Endorsing the Romantic contrast between symbol and allegory , many modern Christian theologians and historians of biblical exegesis have made ...
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