St. Augustine's Allegorical Interpretation Of The Book Of Genesis

Throughout History there have been many Church Fathers. Out of all of them there were 8 that were truly distinguishable. St. Augustine, Considered on of the best. St. Ambrose, St. Basil, St. Athanasius, St. Gregory the Great, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, and finally St. Gregory of Nazianzus. On the other hand, some major Theologians back in the day were Clement of Rome and Polycarp of Smyrna. Throughout these great men there we three who taught about Genesis. St. Augustine provided the first understanding of Genesis, and finally, St. Basil of Caesarea (St. Basil the great) and Ambrose of Milan provided the second understanding of Genesis, which would be the counterpart to the first understanding.

Starting with St. Augustine the first thing that truly is noticeable is the way in which he wrote and taught. Throughout history there
St. Augustine interpreted the story in an allegorical sense. An allegorical interpretation of Genesis is a reading of the Book of Genesis in which treats certain sections of the story as types or symbols rather than historically or literally. The reading was interpreted by St. Augustine as it to be a story to describe humankind’s relationship to the creator and to creation. The actual symbolism interpretation wouldn’t occur until late in Genesis 2 in