Allegorical Readers and Cultural Revision in Ancient Alexandria (Hardcover, New)

Allegorical readings of literary or religious texts always begin as counterreadings, starting with denial of negation, challenging the literal sense: "You have read the text this way, but I will read it differently". The author insists that ancient allegory is best understood not simply as a way of reading texts, but as a way of using non-literal readings to reinterpret culture and society. Here he describes how some ancient pagan, Jewish and Christian interpreters used allegory to endorse, revise and subvert competing Christian and pagan world views. This reassessment of allegorical reading emphasized socio-cultural contexts rather than purely formal literary features, opening with an analysis of the pagan use of etymology and allegory in the Hellenistic world and pagan opposition to both techniques. The remainder of the book presents three Hellenistic religious writers who each typify distinctive models of allegorical interpretation: the Jewish exegete Philo, the Christian Gnostic Valentinus and the Christian Platonist Clement. The study engages issues in the fields of classics, history of Christianity and Hellenistic Judaism, literary criticism and theory and more broadly, criti

General

Imprint:	University of California Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	December 1991
First published:	1992
Authors:	David Dawson
Dimensions:	234 x 156 x 28mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover - Cloth over boards
Pages:	356
Edition:	New
ISBN-13:	978-0-520-07102-5
Categories:	Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > Classical, early & medieval Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Epistemology, theory of knowledge Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Christianity > Early Church Books > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Epistemology, theory of knowledge Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Early Church Books > Christianity > Early Church Promotions
LSN:	0-520-07102-6
Barcode:	9780520071025

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