1. The word ‘typology’ is a
modern coinage with no ancient equivalent: yes, typoi were regularly
listed along with symbols, parables and other tropoi or figures of speech,
but to systematize such ‘types’ as some kind of interpretive ‘method’ and
formally analyse early Christian exegesis in terms of literal, typological and
allegorical categories turned out to be a dubious procedure. A ‘type’ as a
figure of speech could simply mean, say, a moral example: Job as a ‘type’ of
patience.
2. No distinction between
allegorical interpretation and the discernment of typoi can be firmly
identified in early Christian practice. They shade into one another and are
compounded: they may begin with a basic ‘type’—a corresponding pattern—but rapidly
all kinds of details get allegorized as the parallel is developed. The point is
that a narrative might be treated as prophetic sign, and so, with any other
prophecy, its details could be treated as oracular riddles.
3. Such typoi were
not always nor straightforwardly events, historical or otherwise. Passover and
Passion, Crossing the Red Sea and Baptism, Manna in the desert and Eucharist—all
these might at a stretch fit that characterization, but others were surely
better treated as mimetic signs: take, for example, Moses anticipating the
cross in holding out his arms and as long as he did so his followers were
victorious over Amalek. Other types were ‘persons’ or perhaps ‘roles’ rather
than events: Elijah/John Baptist, Joshua/Jesus, Moses/Christ and so forth. As for
the typology of, say, the Epistle to the Hebrews—this interprets the death of
Christ as a sacrifice by setting it in parallel with ritual practices
prescribed in the written Torah (not as actually practiced); this can hardly be
justified in terms of events in history.
So the proposed model
whereby history differentiates between typology from allegory can hardly stand.
(Frances Young, “Typology and
Eschatology: The Scriptural Shaping of Imagery in the Book of Revelation,” in The
Scriptures in the Book of Revelation and Apocalyptic Literature: Essays in
Honour of Steve Moyise, ed. Susan Docherty and Steve Smith [Library of New
Testament Studies 634; London: T&T Clark, 2023], 13)
To Support this Blog:
Email for Amazon Gift card: ScripturalMormonism@gmail.com
Email for Logos.com Gift Card: IrishLDS87@gmail.com
