anagoge

9.9

A way of reading a religious text that finds a deeper spiritual meaning

noun
/ˌænəˈɡoʊdʒi/

Literature

: anagogía

The medieval theologian employed anagoge to discern the deeper spiritual meanings within the biblical text.

Examples

Through careful anagoge, the passage was interpreted as referring to the soul's ascent to heaven.
The concept of anagoge is vital in mystical theology.
His lecture explored the use of anagoge in understanding allegorical themes in religious literature.
Many scholars study anagoge to understand deeper meanings.
His lecture explored the use of anagoge in understanding allegorical themes in religious literature.
The medieval theologian employed anagoge to discern the deeper spiritual meanings within the biblical text.
Through careful anagoge, the passage was interpreted as referring to the soul's ascent to heaven.

Synonyms

anagogy

vsanagoge

Literature

9.9

A spiritual way of reading a text to find deeper meaning

is identical in sense but uses the alternative spelling with final e

How Spiritual

anagoge

Literature

9.9

allegorism

Literature

9.9

literal interpretation

3 4.9

Surface Forms

anagoge singular

anagoges plural

Morphology

anagoge = ana + goge

A rare learned borrowing whose Greek components (ana- + -goge) are not productive or clearly meaningful to average learners, so the sense cannot be reliably derived from its parts.

Etymology

The word anagoge comes from the Greek parts ana- 'up' and agōgē 'leading', the same root you see in pedagogue 'teacher' and demagogue 'leader'. A helpful way to remember it is that an anagoge 'leads up' a plain text to a higher, spiritual meaning.