Three Types of Medieval Allegory as a Basis of Later Christian Spirituality

Abstract

The aim of this article is to outline the three most fundamental types of allegories that offered new and richer interpretations of the Holy Scripture in the Middle Ages and gave birth to new spiritualities and mystical movements. The first type is the universally known rhetorical allegory that vastly contributed to an extended understanding of the spiritual possibilities of the Scripture and its interpretation in contrast to its literal exegesis. The second allegory known as integumentum is rooted in a pagan tradition and myths, and its exegesis of the world combined easily with the Christian message, which led to a very innovative spiritual view of the world. The third allegory is tropological and concerns the idea of imitating Christ and consisted mainly of a spiritual way. It is interesting that all three types of allegory have a common initial inspiration – the work of Aurelius Augustinus. The aim of this article is to introduce and compare these three allegories and interconnect them with the respective medieval Christian spiritual traditions.

Keywords

• medieval allegory
• medieval spiritual traditions
• aurelius augustinus