Anagoge
Greek aná, up + ágō, to lead
Anagoge refers to the spiritual or mystical interpretation of a word or passage beyond its literal meaning. It is used especially in reading scripture, for the sense that points to the spiritual and heavenly.
First principles
Anagoge is the mystic climb: a reading that leads up from what the words say to what they point toward.
It starts on the ground, with the plain sense, and does not stay there. Each step lifts the reader higher: from the story, to its lesson, to the truth beyond both. The meaning is not lying on the page; it is reached by climbing from it.
At its core, it asks:
- What does it plainly say?The climb begins with the literal meaning, read honestly.
- What does it point toward?Follow the words past themselves to the larger truth they lead to.
- Where does it lift you?An anagogic reading leaves the reader higher than it found them.
Etymology
- ἀνάaná
- up, upward
- ἄγωágō
- to lead, to bring
The word anagoge comes, through Latin anagōgē, from the Greek ἀναγωγή (anagōgḗ) meaning "leading up" or "elevation." It is formed from the verb ἀνάγω (anágō), "to lead up," which joins ἀνά (aná) meaning "up" and ἄγω (ágō) meaning "to lead." In Greek it could mean lifting something upward or the elevation of the soul toward God. Medieval theologians counted it as one of four senses of scripture, alongside the literal, the allegorical and the moral.