Eusebius of Emesa in one of his discourses has quite a long passage about allegorizing. He allows that it cannot altogether be rejected but he is very cautious about its use. It tends to read meanings into the text which are good in themselves but are simply not present in the text. It can be an illegitimate short cut. A man who is bound or who is in prison is anxious to be free by any means, but not all means are right. Had all ancient interpreters of the Bible followed this advice, subsequent generations would have been saved the necessity of reading a great deal of nonsense. (The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God, p. 829, emphases added)
The history of hermeneutics alone demonstrates that this is not the best possible world. 🙂
Related posts:
Richard of St. Victor 10 - Perfect Happiness Requires Perfect Love (Scott)
Kimel’s review of What is the Trinity – Part 4
podcast 192 - Review of Sanders's The Deep Things of God - Part 1
podcast 193 - Review of Sanders's The Deep Things of God - Part 2
podcast 55 - John Locke's Second Vindication of his Reasonableness of Christianity
"Only God can forgive sins." False.
Richard of St. Victor 1 -- Introduction (JT)
podcast 374 – Book Session Identity Crisis – Part 3
podcast 259 - Who is the one Creator? - Part 2
podcast 75 - Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho - Part 2