L’allegoria gnostica: note sul significato e sull’uso dell’interpretazione allegorica nello gnosticismo antico

This essay starts by presenting the Judaic, Christian and philosophical\r\ncontext within which the allegorical interpretation was\r\ndeveloped in Gnostic environments during the 2nd century AD.\r\nIts most relevant sources, mainly of heresiological derivation, are\r\nillustrated. By analyzing their allegorical technique, it is then shown\r\nhow the gnostic masters, especially the Valentinians, were rather\r\nflexible in adopting literal interpretations and allegorical ones\r\nboth “horizontally” (i.e., in a physical, psychological and historical\r\nsense) and “vertically” (i.e., in a spiritual sense). Gnostic authors\r\npreferred the latter, and this was their major point of contention\r\nwith the adopters of the “horizontal” typological practice, favored\r\naround the same time within the Great Church. Allegory was the\r\nideal match for the exoteric character of the Gnostic tradition,\r\nsince it allowed for the appearance of countless hidden meanings\r\nand it did properly fit the Gnostic claim that truth is at hand\r\ninasmuch as those who seek it are consubstantial with that divine\r\nfrom which truth comes.