Alexander of Hales

On the Significations and Exposition of the Holy Scriptures

Aaron Gies

• Publisher: Franciscan Institute Publications
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781576594308
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Alexander of Hales, called "the irrefutable doctor and prince of theologians" by Pope Alexander IV, taught theology at Paris from ca. 1220-21 until his death in 1245. Upon his conversion to the Order of Friars Minor in 1236, he became the first Franciscan to hold a theology chair at the University of Paris, teaching influential friars such as Odo Rigaldus, William of Middleton, John of Parma, and probably Bonaventure, who called him "my master and father." This volume contains the first English translation of Alexander's short treatise on biblical interpretation. Probably written in the later 1220s or early 1230s for the use of advanced theology students, On the Significations and Exposition of the Holy Scriptures reveals the hermeneutical methods of the first Franciscan Master, who was renowned for his biblical lectures. Gathering interpretative tools from the works Augustine, Tyconius, Gregory the Great, Jerome, Hugh of St. Victor, Peter Comestor, Aristotle, Boethius and others, the work offers a concise introduction to the art of theological interpretation as practiced in the early university. On the Significations is known to survive in only two manuscripts, and was only authenticated and edited in 2009, by Aleksander Horowski. Yet its influence in the medieval period may have been broader than its survival suggests. Denis the Carthusian, writing about 1434, quotes extensively from it. Now that it has been rediscovered by specialists, Aaron Gies's introduction and extensive notes aim to make the text accessible to any reader interested in medieval ways of reading and interpreting Scripture.

HERE BEGINS THE TREATISE OF MASTER ALEXANDER
ON THE SIGNIFICATIONS AND EXPOSITION OF THE HOLY
SCRIPTURES.

1) Since “the invisible things of God” are known “through the visible things that have been made,” according to the saying of the Apostle (Rom 1:20), it is necessary that the minds of human beings be led to the knowledge of invisible [things] through the properties of visible things. For, as Blessed Dionysius says in the beginning of The Angelic Hierarchy: “It is not otherwise possible for a divine ray to shine unless veiled all about by an anagogical variety of holy veils; nor is it possible to ascend to contemplation of immaterial things, unless the mind be raised through visible forms and imaginations of invisible beauty.”¹ And so the skill of the divine Spirit has marvelously veiled almost all the contents of Holy Scripture and theological understanding² beneath certain figures and similitudes by divine disposition, so that by comparisons to visible things, allegorical expressions and transumptions of mystical meanings³ are received, and thus spiritual and invisible things may be more easily grasped by the understanding of the simple by being joined to carnal and sensible things. Hence Damascene, [On the Orthodox Faith,] chapter 11: “it is necessary to know that human beings exist in coarse matter, that is, in flesh, and therefore are by no means able to understand divine things and the immaterial operations of deity, unless we made use of familiar images and forms which are near to us,” etc.⁴

2) From this it is obvious that the truth of the divine Scripture is not hidden by divine dispensation beneath a variety of figures resembling natural and manmade things without reasonable cause. As Augustine says, the knowledge of the properties of natural things opens up to us the hidden places of holy Scripture.⁵

3) Now, in divine matters, comparison is made to similar things for three reasons: as an aid to the understanding of the simple and the weak; for concealment, lest truth be open on all sides to the scorn of the unworthy; as training and occupation for the perfect.

4) By these means the minds of the untutored are more easily informed of the truth by means of similitudes, the secrets of faith are hidden by veils from unbelievers and the intelligences of the perfect are occupied with searching out more useful truth from the events.

5) Therefore the whole divinely-inspired Scripture contains some things hidden beneath proverbs and parables, some beneath paradigms, some beneath riddles, some beneath tropes, metaphors and figures. However many differentiations there may be, those names are nevertheless very often clearly used interchangeably in the Scriptures.

6) We speak in parable when we suggest through the similitude of some action another action that is done or ought to be done by the hearers.⁶ Also, it is called a “parable” from “para,” which is “according to,” and “bole,” which is “meaning,” as in, “according to [one’s] meaning,” or rather as if some similitude of meaning is compared to another meaning by the similarity, as is clear in all the parables which the Savior used in the Gospel, in which some things are set forth on the surface by way of similitude, and beneath this similitude other things are grasped by the understanding of the hearers. This can be seen in the parable of the seed, Matthew 13:1-23, in which he compares the Sower to a teacher, and the seed to the teaching of the Word of God. 7) In like manner from the householder with a vineyard we understand God the Father, just as that Father improves the Church, the soul, or formerly the Synagogue, like a vineyard.⁷

8) A paradigm is a comparison by the likening of a thing to a thing or an event to an event, in which, through an event or through connection to some mundane occurrence, something more noble in aspect is said to have happened similarly,⁸ just as when from a similitude of some inanimate object something else is said to have come about similarly in animate or rational life, as in the similitude of the thornbush which, when chosen to be king of the trees, destroyed all the trees by fire, Judges 9:14, 15, and in 4 Kings 14:9,⁹ where it is said that “a thistle sent to the cedars and said: give your daughter to my son in marriage.” Through the thornbush and thistle, ambitious [people] are indicated, who, elevated beyond [their] powers, exceeding their proper measure because of the arrogance of pride, are often “exalted” to their own ruin and that of others. It is called a paradigm from “para,” which is “according to,” and “digma,” which is “honor” or “glory,” as if an appropriation or connection were carried out from a saying or event concerning something of lesser worth to honor or dishonor – to glory, or to the shame of the worthy.

9) A metaphor is really an appropriation of some word or object—a transference to unusual things, as when it is said that “the grain waves,” or “the meadow laughs.”¹⁰ It is so-called from “metha,” which is “across,” and “fero,” which is “I carry,” because in this kind of category for speaking something other than the signification of the word or object laid out at first is carried across to the understanding of the hearers. And that same metaphorical mode, which is called “typical” or “figurative,” is most closely tied to theology, where through the similitudes of the appearances of things, powers and activities are understood through which now good things, now evil, now things present, now things to come, now things earthly, now things eternal are imprinted on the mind of the hearers imaginarily or rather similitudinarily.

10) For example, by the height of heaven, the place most remote from the midst of the earth, we understand the way of life of the saints, whose heart is in heaven by immediate union with the Most High.¹¹

11) By earth, which is at the greatest depth, we grasp the life of the life of those who are still on earth, separated from the presence of God, as it is written: “Heaven is above and earth below,” etc. (Prov 23:3).

12) Similarly, by fire – enkindling and assimilating to itself that on which it acts – we know the enkindling of the charity through which we are being most powerfully assimilated and incorporated or rather united to his mystical body.

13) By the light air close to the fiery sphere,¹² we signify the contemplation of good people, who stolen away in contemplation, separate themselves from carnal desires and all mental images,¹³ and approach God, who “is a consuming fire,” by mental ecstasy (Heb 12:29).

14) Truly, by water, fluid and difficult to restrain, we understand the anxiety and fluctuation of the active life.

15) And so, to be brief, theology has its metaphors or demonstrations and properties and similitudinal comparisons in all created things, simple or complex, lowest and highest, which reprove vices, approve virtues and echo the praises of the Creator.

16) The less educated are amazed how one and the same thing, when it is good, can be indicative of evil or, when it is evil, can be indicative of good; thus the lion, while it is the strongest of beasts, at one time carries the type of the Savior, as here: “The Lion of the tribe of Judah conquered,” etc., Apocalypse 5:5, at another time the type of a demon, as here: “He goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,” 1 Peter 5:8. Let it be answered that all creatures, great and small, by reason of the effective principle from whom they are, namely by reason of God, have something of goodness. Truly, by reason of the principle of what they are, (since they are from nothing), they have something of imperfection. This is the reason that each creature has certain good conditions indicative of good and certain defective and bad conditions indicative of evil. And therefore one and the same thing in turn can signify opposite things, such as just and unjust, virtuous and wicked, Christ and antichrist, yet not by reason of the same properties, but by reason of different properties, or by reason of the same ones taken in a different sense. Thus the boldness of a lion signifies the excellence of virtue in Christ and signifies the abuse of power in the devil or the antichrist. The serpent, the worm and others are also to be understood this way.

17) A riddle is an obscure saying hidden more secretly behind a similitude of things. Thus an enigmatic saying is obscure and secret, that is, hidden through certain secret similitudes. And such speech is properly called mysterious, that is secret and obscure, thus called from “mysteries” or “mysterione” in Greek, that is “secret” in Latin, as is said in 1 Corinthians 2:7: “we speak wisdom hidden in a mystery.” That word of Sampson, “out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong something sweet,” Judges 14:14, was such a mystical and enigmatic saying.¹⁴

18) And so the mode of parable, paradigm, metaphor and riddle is common to theology and philosophy, so that this fourfold mode is found in the letter and history. But the mystical or typical mode is more appropriate to theology. Thus the mystical mode contains the allegorical, tropological, and anagogical [modes]. All paradigms, parables and riddles are encompassed by these three modes, as they are frequently set forth in the same narrative. Theologians call allegorical, tropological and anagogical interpretations of this kind “mystical” or “typical” statements.

19) The superiority of this science to the other sciences, which have only one interpretation, i.e. the literal, is plain. But this [science] has multiple [interpretations], i.e. the mystical/spiritual, which is contained beneath the threefold categories enumerated above. And therefore, because of these multiple variations of interpretation the Law of the Lord is called “manifold,” Job 11:6, for “at many times and in many ways,” etc., Hebrews 1:1. Thus, sacrosanct theology not only attends to the meanings of words but also the properties of things, because the “manifold wisdom of God” is “made known” to pious students as much in the similitudes of events and things as in the meanings of words, Ephesians 3:10.

20) No wonder that this manifold mode for interpretation is found in theological science.¹⁵ This comes about for a threefold reason, namely by reason of the efficient cause, which is the Holy Spirit, who is “manifold” and “one,” Wisdom 7:22. He is one certainly in nature but manifold in effect. So in distinction to all other science – which is by rational inquiry – this science corresponds to that which is properly and immediately through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 1 Peter 1:21: “Men of God spoke, having been inspired by the Holy Spirit.” 21) Also, by reason of its subject matter, which is manifold because every kind of created thing comes under theological speculation. 22) Also, by reason of its purpose, because theology is knowledge of human salvation inspired by the Divine Spirit. And because the way of salvation is multifarious, it was necessary that this Scripture, which directs the people of God towards salvation, be handed over by the Savior so that it might reveal those things which pertain to salvation for all: perfect and imperfect, wise and foolish.

And therefore this Scripture is such that it conforms itself to each intelligence, namely to sharp and to dull, so that a lamb (that is, the simple disciple) may find a place where it may wade, and the largest elephant (that is, a subtle philosopher) may swim, as Gregory and Jerome [say] in the prologue of On Job.¹⁶

23) And so, the content of Scripture, which is almost completely enigmatic on its face, is fitted beneath the distinction of a fourfold interpretation, as Bede says, namely under the historical, under the allegorical, under the tropological and the anagogical.¹⁷ The distinction is obviously fourfold, since history teaches what happened, tropology what should be practiced, allegory, what should be believed, anagogy what should be longed for with regard to the End.¹⁸

24) For history teaches about what has already been done, tropology abo...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Part I: The figurative meanings of scripture
• Part II: Seven rules by which Scripture’s meaning is altered [50]
• Part III: Reasons for drawing out mystical and allegorical readings [59]
• Indices