Senses of Scripture

[wacreb]

I am teaching about the different senses of Scripture as defined in CCC 116 and 117:

Literal and Spiritual (including Allegorical, Moral, and Anagogical).

I need good examples of stories in the Scriptures that I can use to teach these different senses. I would like them to see how these senses are used. Any suggestions?

 

[Little_Mary]

Allegory:

Luke 6:42 (also Mt 7:3)…

“How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye”

I’m always tickled by this passage, I think it points to God’s sense of humor/or why we have a sense of humor. Moreover, it drives the point home.

 

[Lubomyr]

I am teaching about the different senses of Scripture as defined in CCC 116 and 117:

Literal and Spiritual (including Allegorical, Moral, and Anagogical).

I need good examples of stories in the Scriptures that I can use to teach these different senses. I would like them to see how these senses are used. Any suggestions?

Here’s one, taken from catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0329.html

The classic example to demonstrate the four senses is the temple.

• In the literal sense, the temple was the actual building that once stood in Jerusalem, in which the Israelite priests offered sacrifice, the people worshipped, and God dwelt in the Holy of Holies. But this temple of the Old Testament has even higher importance because God has used it as a sign to tell us about greater realities in the New Testament: Jesus and the Christian life.
• Allegorically, the temple points to Jesus, who said he was the true temple which would be destroyed and raised up in three days (Jn. 2:19-21). Just as the Jerusalem temple was the place of sacrifice for the Jews, so does Jesus’ body house the everlasting sacrifice on Calvary for all humanity.
• The moral sense of the temple is found in the Christian, whose body is “a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:19). Just as the temple contained the awesome presence of God, so do the bodies of Christians hold the presence of the Holy Spirit by virtue of their Baptism.
• Anagogically, the Jerusalem temple finds its eschatological meaning in the heavenly sanctuary, where God will dwell among us in our eternal home, as described in Book of Revelation (e.g., Rev. 21:22).

 

[Alfonsus]

I also suggest the story of Jesus passion, when Pilate says to the crowd: “Look at that man”.

Literally, it was Pilate exclamation for the people, including us, to see this person, Jesus, badly injured and humiliated. A governor, a judge showing the accused, the victim.

Allegorically, the word “man” points us to Adam in Genesis: “and God created man from the dust of the earth.” The name Adam also a play word for “man.”
Then it reminds us of the new Adam, as saint Paul said.
In the person of Jesus, the two Adam blends. This part is very rich to contemplate.
We can see in the injured Jesus, the horrible of sin of us all, “man” against “man”.
We can see in the injured Jesus, the greatness dignity of us all, “man”, so great that God Himself come to take flesh and voluntarily accepts such injustice.
It can go on and on and on.

The moral sense is quite easy to understand. Looking at the story, we can contemplate for instance “public oppression” against minority, abuse of power, the ungodly desire for position, utilization of man, etc.
We see also the flip of it regarding love, self donation, charity, bravery, human dignity, etc.

Then the last sense, the anagogical, the “Man” reminds us of the prophecy of Daniel. The “Man” reminds us of the Apocalypse. The “Man” reminds us our final destiny, the marriage of the Lamb. The “Man” reminds us, that the whole episode was for the sake of His bride, the Church. How He loves her to the end, so that she may find life, cleaned without stain or wrinkle, worthy for Himself. It reminds us of Ephesus 5.

And when reading Ephesus 5, you’ll easily break it down to its literal, allegorical, moral and anagogical sense and see how it overlaps and intersects with the passion story for instance.