Anagoge

Anagoge (ἀναγωγή), sometimes spelled anagogy, is a Greek word suggesting a "climb" or "ascent" upwards. The anagogical is a method of symbolic interpretation of spiritual statements or events, especially scriptural exegesis that detects allusions to the afterlife.

Certain medieval theologians describe four methods of interpreting the Scriptures: literal/historical, allegorical, tropological (moral), and anagogical. Hugh of St. Victor, in De scripturis et scriptoribus sacris, distinguished anagoge from allegory. In an allegory, a visible fact is signified by another visible fact. On the other hand, with respect to an anagoge (‘leading above'), from a visible fact, an invisible is declared.

The four methods of interpretation point in four different directions: The literal/historical backwards to the past, the allegoric forwards to the future, the tropological downwards to the moral/human, and the anagogic upwards to the spiritual/heavenly.

See also

• Biblical hermeneutics
• Allegory
• Allegorical interpretation of the Bible
• Tropological
• Historical-grammatical method