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Glite Dictionary
🌌 Spiritual ascent 📖 Spiritual interpretation
anagogy

anagogy

9.9
A spiritual rising of the soul toward union with a higher reality
  • noun
  • /ˌænəˈɡoʊdʒi/
  • Literature
translation icon : anagogía
  • In mystical traditions, an anagogy often represents the soul's journey towards divine enlightenment.

Examples

  • This necessitates an acceptance of the material in the form of a symbol—light being one of many such symbols given by Pseudo-Dionysius—followed by a transcending of the material, the process being known as anagogy.

    Academic text (2011)

  • While some have found in De Trinitate "one of the finest examples of what could be called Neoplatonic anagogy that remains from the ancient world."

    Academic text (2003)

  • The concept of anagogy in ancient philosophy describes how the soul rises to higher spiritual realms.

  • Many scholars interpret scripture using anagogy, seeking deeper meanings beyond the literal text.

How Spiritual

anagogy
  • Literature
9.9
unitive
  • Literature
9.9

Surface Forms

anagogy singular
anagogies plural

Morphology

anagogy = ana + agog + y

Although analyzable as ana- + agog- + -y, the theological senses (spiritual ascent or mystical interpretation) are specialized and not transparently inferable by an average B1 learner from the component parts.

Etymology

Anagogy comes from the Greek parts ana- 'up' and agogē 'a leading', the same root you see in pedagogue where the second part means a leader or teacher. So anagogy is a 'leading up' — a spiritual rise or ascent of the soul toward the divine.