You gave credit where it is due and I will too. From the Catechism…
The senses of Scripture
115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.
116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: “All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal.”
117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God’s plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.
1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ’s victory and also of Christian Baptism.
2. The moral sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written “for our instruction”.
**3. The anagogical sense **(Greek: anagoge, “leading”). We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.
scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s1c2a3.htm
Note the part in red.
This is right on the mark.
The word ‘fruitful’ is important. When we think of ‘fruit’ in Catholic terms, we think of virtue. In a sense, although it might seem that the literal sense is strictly to ‘pro-create’, and the allegorical is ‘evangelising’, really, as you said, they are not distinctly separate but rather inseparable. St. Augustine said that if this passage is to be taken absolutely literally then this would be impossible to write, for if the inspired writer names one physical element i.e:- trees, then why did the writer also not mention everything else that is in the physical world; meaning, that the physical elements mentioned in the account have to incorporate a deeper message, to have been included.
From this examination, and remembering something I learned from the tutor I mentioned earlier, I think the story could be like a hymn of praise, of celebration. Taking modern exegetical methods in place since the previous century, the form might suggest as such, especially with the repetition of words e.g: “And God saw that it was good”. I often imagine the early jews sat around telling stories in this way, a way that both the adults and the children could understand and enjoy.
I go further because I think that at the heart of the message of the Bible is child-like trust, all the way through. And if we take the spirit of joy and peace that is lived in the wonderful Holy Spirit, we could say that children’s songs and stories are, in a way, very profound, and cut to the moral chase, in the simple way they are conveyed, often
repetitive, and which often speak of a universal innocence and gentle joy. A kind of dance or rhythm that life can be lived
along to. And the fact that the very first creation story does seem to point to a song of praise and considering that stories were passed on by word-of-mouth as opposed to being written down, suggests that maybe we could do with approaching the whole of the Bible in this way - what is blessed and participated in, in a blessed way, in a truly lived way, with child-like trust, is the Way of the Lord.
Point being, the Way of the Lord is both literal and spiritual and so is as you say. Except that the literal in the case of the Genesis passage cannot be only to ‘pro-create’ but rather to pro-create
in gratitude. And that means being aware of the gift that life really is and treating it as such. Life with responsibility. WIth meaning. The literal and the allegorical entwined. The practical never separated from the spiritual. The very first Bible account then immediately stands in opposition to death and evil, but with open welcoming arms for all to join in, in the dance of joy, the song of praise, the life of
goodness!
