Gregg Allison, Ph.D.: "Historical Theology," Ch.8--Interpretation of Scr...

1.     Interpretation in the middle ages was influenced by Origen, Augustine and the multiple-sense view. Allison maintains that Bede alleged/practiced the 4-fold hermeneutic: history, allegory, tropology and anagogy (although our reading of Bede did not reveal this illustratively but only applications from the text itself…same for Augustine). Hugo of St. Victor and Nicholas of Lyra were voices in the medieval wilderness. Nicholas said: “Just as a building that begins to part company with its foundation is inclined to collapse, so a mystical exposition which deviates from the literal sense must be considered unseemly and inappropriate…so those who wish to make headway in the study of the Holy Scripture must begin by understanding the literal sense” (171).