Medieval Philosophy

by Peter S. Adamson

knowledge worth having.2 It was the most basic of three approaches he described for interpreting Scripture. When taking up the Bible, one must first understand it as what we would call a “literal” record of real events. This is what Hugh calls an “historical” interpretation. One should not stop there, though. A second approach discerns a further symbolic meaning behind historical events, a type of exegesis Hugh calls “allegorical.” Finally, there is what he calls “tropological” interpretation, which means taking an ethical message from the text. Hugh applies all three kinds of approach to the same scriptural material, for instance in a treatise he wrote on Noah’s Ark. On the one hand, the ark was a real boat. Hugh describes it in bewildering detail, to the point that it seems clear he was envisioning an intricate diagram, even though no such diagram is found in the existing manuscripts of his treatise. He dwells on descriptions found in the Bible, for instance concerning the dimensions of the boat, and adds details of his own, like little side compartments to allow seals and otters to swim into the sea and then return to the ark. The ark’s structure is then mined for its symbolic significance, as when Hugh says that the ark had two exits, a door and a window, which represent the soul’s ability to engage in practical action or to look upwards in contemplation.3 Finally, the story of the ark teaches us a moral lesson: the flood waters that covered the earth represent the wor...