中世纪寓意解释法及其对自然受造物观念的影响

On the Medieval Allegorical Interpretation and Its Influence on the Concept of Natural Creation

本文旨在对中世纪寓意解释法的产生、内容及其影响进行初步的考察。希腊化时期的斯多亚学派和犹太学者斐洛的文本解释策略,为基督教的寓意解释法提供了基本的思路。以克莱门和奥利金为代表的亚历山大教父,通过对寓意解释法的重新诠释,不仅有效地克服了早期基督教面临的三大生存危机,而且奠定了西欧中世纪对于《圣经》文本和可见事物的基本处理方式。在寓意解释法观念的支配下,自然物、历史和造型艺术仅仅被理解为具有肉体性、字面性的造物,需要藉由寓意解释引申出其中的属灵含义,三者逐渐蜕变为某种象征或符号。在这个意义上,寓意解释法对中世纪象征主义心智模式的形成产生了深刻的奠基作用。

This paper aims to provide a preliminary investigation of the origin, content, and influence of the medieval allegorical interpretation. In the Hellenistic period, the text interpretation strategy, used by the Stoic school and the Jewish scholar Philo of Alexander, offered an archetype for the exegetics of Christianity.By modifying allegorical interpretation, the fathers of Alexander, represented by Clementine and Origen, not only effectively overcame the three major crises of early Christianity, but also fundamentally shaped the way of dealing with the texts of the Bible and the visible things in Medieval Europe. Under the doctrine of the allegorical interpretation, natural objects, historical records and plastic art were understood as mere literal and physical creations. Only through the allegorical interpretation could the spiritual meaning of a text or things be revealed. Thus, the natural objects, historical events and plastic art gradually became symbols. In this sense,the allegorical interpretation had functioned as a solid and broad foundation for the formation of the medieval symbolism.