Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Relating to anagoge: Pertaining to or based on a spiritual, mystical, or higher interpretation of a text, especially scripture, that seeks the ultimate spiritual meaning or the foreshadowing of a heavenly reality.

Usage

• The term "anagogical" is primarily used in theological, literary, and philosophical contexts to describe a specific method of interpretation. It is often contrasted with literal, allegorical, and moral (tropological) senses of a text.

Examples

• Adjective:
  • The medieval monk provided an anagogical reading of the psalm, seeing it as a prophecy of the soul's ascent to heaven.
  • Dante's Divine Comedy is rich with anagogical symbolism, pointing toward eternal truths.

Advanced Usage

• "Anagogical sense": In medieval Christian exegesis (particularly the fourfold method), this is the fourth sense of scripture, which interprets events as signs of the eternal glory to come.
  • For scholars, the New Jerusalem in Revelation is understood in its anagogical sense as a symbol of the future Kingdom of Heaven.

Variants and Related Words

• Anagoge (n): The spiritual or mystical interpretation itself; the method of ascending from the literal to a spiritual meaning.
  • The poem's anagoge reveals a vision of divine love.
• Anagogically (adv): In an anagogical manner.
  • The text was interpreted anagogically to reveal its celestial significance.

Synonyms

• Mystical: Relating to a spiritual reality beyond ordinary understanding.
• Spiritual: Concerned with sacred or religious matters and the human soul.

Related Concepts

• Allegorical: Involving a symbolic narrative where characters and events represent abstract ideas, often a step below the anagogical in the fourfold method.
• Eschatological: Concerned with the ultimate destiny of humanity and the end of the world, often connected to anagogical interpretations of prophecy.

Adjective

1. based on or exemplifying anagoge