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Fourfold Sense of Scripture

One text, four windows: literal, allegorical, moral, and heavenly senses of Scripture

The fourfold sense is the medieval way of reading Scripture in four layers: the literal meaning, the allegorical pointing to Christ and the faith, the moral or tropological guiding how to live, and the anagogical lifting the mind toward heavenly things. Drawing on earlier figures such as John Cassian, this approach shaped medieval exegesis, treating the sacred text as richly multivalent, with each sense disclosing a different dimension of its meaning.

How it traveled

  1. Treatise on Sacred Doctrine (Q[1])
    Paris · 1274
    explains

Key passages(20)

On the Profit of Believing — Section 5↗explains

On the Profit of Believing · Augustine of Hippo

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The Conferences of John Cassian. Part II. Containing Conferences XI-XVII — Conference XIV. The First Conference of Abbot Nesteros. On Spiritual Knowledge. — part 2↗explains

The Conferences of John Cassian. Part II. Containing Conferences XI-XVII · John Cassian

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Treatise on Sacred Doctrine (Q[1]) — Question. 1 - The Nature and Extent of Sacred Doctrine (Ten Articles) — part 6↗explains

Treatise on Sacred Doctrine (Q[1]) · Thomas Aquinas

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Treatise on Sacred Doctrine (Q[1]) — Question. 1 - The Nature and Extent of Sacred Doctrine (Ten Articles) — part 7↗explains

Treatise on Sacred Doctrine (Q[1]) · Thomas Aquinas

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Jerome and Gennadius. Lives of Illustrious Men — Gennadius. Lives of Illustrious Men. — Rufinus the presbyter.↗explains

Jerome and Gennadius. Lives of Illustrious Men · Jerome

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High
A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles — Homily XIX on Acts viii. 26, 27. — part 8↗applies

A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles · John Chrysostom

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High
Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John, From the fifth chapter↗applies

Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John · Victorinus

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High
The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom — Matthew XXIV. 16-18. — part 2↗applies

The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom · John Chrysostom

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High
Against Lying — Section 24↗applies

Against Lying · Augustine of Hippo

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Moderate
Expositions on the Book of Psalms — Psalm CIV — part 2↗explains

Expositions on the Book of Psalms · Augustine of Hippo

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Moderate
The Church History of Eusebius — Book VI — Circumstances Related of Origen. — part 5↗explains

The Church History of Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea

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Moderate
The Harmony of the Gospels — Book II — Of the Harmony Subsisting Between the Three Evangelists in Their Narratives of the Discourse Which He Delivered on the Mount of Olives, When the Disciples Asked When the Consummation Should Happen.↗applies

The Harmony of the Gospels · Augustine of Hippo

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The Harmony of the Gospels — Book II — Of the Raising of the Daughter of the Ruler of the Synagogue, and of the Woman Who Touched the Hem of His Garment; Of the Question, Also, as to Whether the Order in Which These Incidents are Narrated Exhibits Any Contradiction in Any of the Writers by Whom They are Reported; And in Particular, of the Words in Which the Ruler of the Synagogue Addressed His Request to the Lord.↗applies

The Harmony of the Gospels · Augustine of Hippo

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The Harmony of the Gospels — Book III — Of the Hour of the Lord’s Passion, and of the Question Concerning the Absence of Any Discrepancy Between Mark and John in the Article of the ‘Third’ Hour and the ‘Sixth.’ — part 2↗applies

The Harmony of the Gospels · Augustine of Hippo

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The Harmony of the Gospels — Book III — Of the Manner in Which It Can Be Shown that No Discrepancies Exist Between Them in the Accounts Which They Give of the Words Which Were Spoken by the Lord, on to the Time of His Leaving the House in Which They Had Supped.↗explains

The Harmony of the Gospels · Augustine of Hippo

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City of God — The progress of the earthly and heavenly cities traced by the sacred history. — Of the Ark and the Deluge, and that We Cannot Agree with Those Who Receive the Bare History, But Reject the Allegorical Interpretation, Nor with Those Who Maintain the Figurative and Not the Historical Meaning.↗explains

City of God · Augustine of Hippo

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Moderate
On the Resurrection of the Flesh., This Vision Interpreted by Tertullian of the Resurrection of the Bodies of the Dead. A Chronological Error of Our Author, Who Supposes that Ezekiel in His Ch. XXXI. Prophesied Before the Captivity.↗applies

On the Resurrection of the Flesh. · Anti-marcion

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Reply to Faustus the Manichæan — Faustus is willing to admit that Christ may have said that He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them; but if He did, it was to pacify the Jews and in a modified sense. Augustin replies, and still further elaborates the Catholic view of prophecy and its fulfillment. — part 2↗applies

Reply to Faustus the Manichæan · Augustine of Hippo

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Reply to Faustus the Manichæan — Faustus states his objections to the morality of the law and the prophets, and Augustin seeks by the application of the type and the allegory to explain away the moral difficulties of the Old Testament. — part 17↗explains

Reply to Faustus the Manichæan · Augustine of Hippo

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Moderate
On Christian Doctrine — Book II — The Knowledge Both of Language and Things is Helpful for the Understanding of Figurative Expressions.↗applies

On Christian Doctrine · Augustine of Hippo

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Moderate