Medieval Figures<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In his recent study of figural exegesis, Time and the Word, Ephraim Radner traces the \u201cfate of figural reading.\u201d The Middle Ages form a crucial stage in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/12\/medieval-figures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Medieval Figures\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his recent study of figural exegesis, Time and the Word, Ephraim Radner traces the \u201cfate of figural reading.\u201d The Middle Ages form a crucial stage in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/12\/medieval-figures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leithart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-16T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PLeithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/12\/medieval-figures\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/12\/medieval-figures\/\",\"name\":\"Medieval Figures\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-16T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-16T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\"},\"description\":\"In his recent study of figural exegesis, Time and the Word, Ephraim Radner traces the \u201cfate of figural reading.\u201d The Middle Ages form a crucial stage in\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/12\/medieval-figures\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/12\/medieval-figures\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/12\/medieval-figures\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Medieval Figures\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\",\"name\":\"Leithart\",\"description\":\"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\",\"name\":\"Peter Leithart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Peter Leithart\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Medieval Figures","description":"In his recent study of figural exegesis, Time and the Word, Ephraim Radner traces the \u201cfate of figural reading.\u201d The Middle Ages form a crucial stage in","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/12\/medieval-figures\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Medieval Figures","og_description":"In his recent study of figural exegesis, Time and the Word, Ephraim Radner traces the \u201cfate of figural reading.\u201d The Middle Ages form a crucial stage in","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/12\/medieval-figures\/","og_site_name":"Leithart","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","article_published_time":"2016-12-16T00:00:00+00:00","author":"Peter Leithart","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PLeithart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Leithart","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/12\/medieval-figures\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/12\/medieval-figures\/","name":"Medieval Figures","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-12-16T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-16T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d"},"description":"In his recent study of figural exegesis, Time and the Word, Ephraim Radner traces the \u201cfate of figural reading.\u201d The Middle Ages form a crucial stage in","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/12\/medieval-figures\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/12\/medieval-figures\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/12\/medieval-figures\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Medieval Figures"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/","name":"Leithart","description":"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d","name":"Peter Leithart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Peter Leithart"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":18585,"date":"2016-12-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=312"},"modified":"2016-12-16T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-16T00:00:00","slug":"medieval-figures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/12\/medieval-figures\/","title":{"rendered":"Medieval Figures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I<\/span>n his recent study of figural exegesis, Time and the Word<\/em><\/a>, Ephraim Radner traces the \u201cfate of figural reading.\u201d The Middle Ages form a crucial stage in that history. Drawing on the work of Friedrich Ohly, Radner argues that the \u201cmedieval typology was part of a long-standing outlook that remained in place, mutatis mutandis<\/em>, well into the early modern period. . . . typology is bound to a certain conception of time, one presented in terms of historical unity<\/em>. It is a unity, as the typologist sees it, given by God in time that is articulated through revelation, but just because of this, it is more than a humanly subjective perception. It is a \u2018real\u2019 unity that draws all periods into relation one with another\u201d (62)_<\/p>\n

For the medievals, typology embraced not only time, but also \u201cnatural object and fabricated artifacts. . . . the typological synthesis of the middle ages becomes ever more exhaustive in its reach in comparison with the practical typological schemes of earlier Christian interpreters.\u201d With theologians such as Thomas Bradwardine, typology explored the import of the temporal dynamics of typology for understanding of theological issues like grace and free will. For Bradwardine, \u201ceven something as vexing as human contingency was deemed to be utterly God-derived. Each instant of human decision, that is, finds its existential location within the specific act of God\u2019s creative grace.\u201d <\/p>\n

Typology also extended to the natural world, now seen as \u201can ordered whole, if grasped from a spiritual perspective, where everything must (and does) in act refer to everything else. The universe exists as a \u2018language\u2019 in and of itself, given that reality is a kind of divine speech before all else.\u201d Augustine first used the notion of the \u201ctwo books\u201d of Scripture and nature but \u201cit is only in the Middle Ages that this framework becomes vital for understanding reality\u201d (63).<\/p>\n

The proliferation of signs threatens to exceed any order; it threatens to become \u201cneurotic,\u201d in Eco\u2019s phrase. What saves typology, what keeps it coherent, is its rootedness in Scripture: \u201cit overwhelming potential is held in check by the fact that such a vision is finally limited by the single reality of Scripture itself: the \u2018one speech of God\u2019 is given in such a way that the world\u2019s linguistic meaning is always congruent with and explicated according to the singular voice of the Bible. While that voice, heard with Augustinian ears, might itself be of infinite depth and meaning, it is nevertheless the constraining feature that grants reality its fundamental coherence\u201d (65).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"