ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION is that kind of interpretation by which the literal significance of a passage is either transcended or set aside, and a more spiritual and pro found meaning elicited than is contained in the form or letter. The common idea is that it originated with the Alexandrine school, but this is by no means the case, as we find it employed by the older Hindus. From the scholars of Alexandria, however, it was adopted by the Jews of Palestine, a sect of whom in particular, namely, the Essenes, made abundant use of it. The apostle Paul himself allegorizes, or at least spiritually interprets the history of the free-born Iaaac and the slave-born Ishmael (Gal. iv. 24). Allegorical interpretation, however, with reference to the Old Testament, was most exten sively employed by Philo Judmeus, a philosophical Jew of Alexandria, and a contemporary of Jesus Christ. His writings stimulated the allegorizing tendencies of the Alexandrine school it Christian theologians, the most famous of whom are Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen. The latter went so far as to say that " the scriptures are of little use to those
who understand them as they are written." As a specimen of his method of biblical interpretation, we may adduce the following : Ile maintained that the Mosaic account of the garden of Eden was allegorical ; that paradise only symbolized a high primeval spirit uality ; that the fall consisted in the loss of such through spiritual and not material temptation ; and that the expulsion from the garden lay in the soul's being driven out of its region of original purity. The Neo-platomsts were at first averse to allegorizing, but gradually acquired a relish for it from the Jews and Christians, and applied it to the ancient myths.