Medieval Mystical Allegory

Abstract

ABSTRACT An exploration of Patristic and Medieval allegorical hermeneutics, drawing a distinction between a revelatory approach to the created order, where created things are understood as disclosing God, and the veiling approach to the created order, where created things are seen as concealing God. Although these two approaches appear to contradict one another, it is argued that both are mystically legitimate, and that work needs to be done to recover the allegorical reading of Scripture.