Literal/Historical Sense
Before every deeper meaning stands the plain sense the text intends
The literal or historical sense is the plain meaning intended by a biblical text, regarded as the foundation of interpretation. The Antiochene school, including Theodore of Mopsuestia and John Chrysostom, especially stressed attention to the text's straightforward, historical meaning. While later tradition recognized additional spiritual senses, the literal sense was widely held to ground them, so that deeper readings rest upon what the words plainly say.
How it traveled
- Dialogue with TryphoRome · c. 165 CEexplains
- On the Resurrection of the Flesh.— · c. 220 CEexplains
- The Church History of EusebiusCaesarea · c. 339 CEexplains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. JohnConstantinople (Istanbul) · c. 407 CEexplains
- The Letters of St. JeromeBethlehem · c. 420 CEexplains
- On Christian DoctrineHippo Regius · c. 430 CEexplains
- The Harmony of the GospelsHippo Regius · c. 430 CEexplains
- Expositions on the Book of PsalmsHippo Regius · c. 430 CEexplains
- The ConfessionsHippo Regius · c. 430 CEexplains
- City of GodHippo Regius · c. 430 CEexplains
- Reply to Faustus the ManichæanHippo Regius · c. 430 CEexplains
- Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. JohnHippo Regius · c. 430 CEexplains
- Letters of St. AugustinHippo Regius · c. 430 CEapplies
- On the Profit of BelievingHippo Regius · c. 430 CEexplains
- Treatise on the Work of the Six Days (qq[65]-74)Paris · c. 1274 CEexplains
- Treatise on Sacred Doctrine (Q[1])Paris · c. 1274 CEexplains
- Discussion: Second PartWittenberg · c. 1546 CEexplains
- ExordiumWittenberg · c. 1546 CEexplains
- The great christian doctrine of original sin defendedNorthampton, Massachusetts · c. 1758 CEapplies
Key passages(20)
Each passage is tagged by what it does with the idea: explains it, applies it in practice, redefines it with a new meaning, or challenges it. Relevance shows how directly the passage is about this idea.
Discussion: Second Part · Martin Luther
Sect. LXXVII. — IN this part of the discussion, then, the Diatribe has found out a new way of eluding the most clear passages: that is, it will have that there is, in the most simple and clear passage
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On the Resurrection of the Flesh. · Anti-marcion
Chapter XX.—Figurative Senses Have Their Foundation in Literal Fact. Besides, the Allegorical Style is by No Means the Only One Found in the Prophetic Scriptures, as Alleged by the Heretics. Now, to
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Treatise on Sacred Doctrine (Q[1]) · Thomas Aquinas
Reply to Objection 1: The multiplicity of these senses does not produce equivocation or any other kind of multiplicity, seeing that these senses are not multiplied because one word signifies several t
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Treatise on Sacred Doctrine (Q[1]) · Thomas Aquinas
I answer that, It is befitting Holy Writ to put forward divine and spiritual truths by means of comparisons with material things. For God provides for everything according to the capacity of its natur
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Against Heresies: Book V · Irenaeus of Lyons
1. If, however, any shall endeavour to allegorize [prophecies] of this kind, they shall not be found consistent with themselves in all points, and shall be confuted by the teaching of the very express
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City of God · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 27.—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 t
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Discussion: Second Part · Martin Luther
Sect. CXXVI. — THE Diatribe after this, having said that many such testimonies, as Luther collects, may be collected out of the book of Proverbs; but which, by a convenient interpretation, may stand b
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Discussion: Second Part · Martin Luther
Sect. LXXVIII. — THIS miserable scape-gap of tropes, therefore, profits the Diatribe nothing. But this Proteus of ours must here be held fast, and compelled to satisfy us fully concerning the trope in
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On Christian Doctrine · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 10.—How We are to Discern Whether a Phrase is Figurative. 14. But in addition to the foregoing rule, which guards us against taking a metaphorical form of speech as if it were literal, we mus
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On Christian Doctrine · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 5.—It is a Wretched Slavery Which Takes the Figurative Expressions of Scripture in a Literal Sense. 9. But the ambiguities of metaphorical words, about which I am next to speak, demand no ord
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On the Resurrection of the Flesh. · Anti-marcion
Chapter XXX.—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
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On the Resurrection of the Flesh. · Anti-marcion
Chapter XXXII.—Even Unburied Bodies Will Be Raised Again. Whatever Befalls Them God Will Restore Them Again. Jonah’s Case Quoted in Illustration of God’s Power. But, that you may not suppose that it
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On the Resurrection of the Flesh. · Anti-marcion
Chapter XXXIII.—So Much for the Prophetic Scriptures. In the Gospels, Christ’s Parables, as Explained by Himself, Have a Clear Reference to the Resurrection of the Flesh. This is evidence enough from
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The Church History of Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
The information which is given us here in regard to the methods of the Theodotians is very interesting. What is said in regard to their philosophical principles makes it evident that they used the gra
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The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X · John Cassian
Of the hospitality of Abbot Serenus. When we had finished the duties of the day, and the congregation had been dismissed from Church we returned to the old man’s cell, and enjoyed a most sumptuous re
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A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 23 [XVI.]—Figurative Speech Must Not Be Taken Literally. “In short,” you say, “members are in this parable ascribed to the soul, as if it were really a body.” You will have it, that “by the e
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A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 28.—A Natural Figure of Speech Must Not Be Literally Pressed. He goes on to remark: “But the apostle, by saying, ‘And He Himself giveth life and spirit to all,’ and then by adding the words,
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24. Touching Jacob, however, that which he did at his mother’s bidding, so as to seem to deceive his father, if with diligence and in faith it be attended to, is no lie, but a mystery. The which if we
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Book Second. of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the Gospel · John Calvin
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO TESTAMENTS. This chapter consists principally of three parts. I. Five points of difference between the Old and the New Testament, sec. 1–11. II. The last of these point
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Christian Knowledge · Jonathan Edwards
Directions for the acquisition of Christian knowledge. 1. Be assiduous in reading the Holy Scriptures. This is the fountain whence all knowledge in divinity must be derived. Therefore let not this tr
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