ABSTRACT
It is basic to any allegorical or typological interpretation of the Bible that a story, precept or proverb has both a literal meaning, which is obvious to any reader, and a hidden sense, which is revealed either through special insight or through instruction. Different terms have been used by the fathers of the Early Church to describe this overlay of meanings; the literal sense is denoted by words like letter, history or body and the deeper sense by words like allegory, symbol, figure or soul. 1 The last pair of terms is based on a common philosophical distinction of Platonic origin; the distinction articulates a human being into a sensible component, which is formed by the body, and a noetic component, which is located in the soul and which is opposed to the body. When this frame of reference is applied to the interpretation of the Bible, σῶμα equals the letter of Scripture, and ψυχή covers the underlying meaning.
