Senses of Scripture
Senses of Scripture is the literal sense and the spiritual senses by which Catholic tradition reads the biblical text within God's saving plan.[1]
The literal sense
The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words and discovered through sound interpretation. Literal does not mean literalistic: poetry, metaphor, parable, symbol, narrative, and apocalyptic vision communicate according to their literary forms.[2]
Historical, linguistic, literary, and cultural study serves the literal sense by asking what the human authors affirmed. Catholic interpretation does not bypass this work in order to reach a supposedly more religious meaning.
Spiritual senses
Because Scripture speaks within the unity of God's plan, realities signified by the text can themselves signify further realities. Tradition calls these the allegorical sense, concerning Christ and faith; the moral sense, concerning action; and the anagogical sense, concerning final destiny.
Every spiritual interpretation must remain grounded in the literal sense and cohere with the whole of Scripture and faith. The fourfold scheme is a disciplined theological account, not permission for uncontrolled private symbolism.
References
- Back to citation Catechism: The Holy Spirit, Interpreter of Scripture — Paragraphs 115–119 on the senses of Scripture.
- Back to citation Dei Verbum — Section 12 on literary forms and theological interpretation.