Note: this is a rough draft that was not finished / edited or officially added to my storybook but it's a good introduction to the concepts involved.

In this preface, I will attempt to offer some insight into the perspective from which I have written my storybook. Scripture can conceivably be interpreted by twelve different senses: each according to the 12 houses of the Zodiac or 12 tribes of Israel or 12 Apostles of the Lord and so forth. Twelve is, after all, a cosmic number that has been employed by authors of sacred writings to denote certain spiritual, mystical, and liturgical realities. While twelve senses are possible, the Church has traditionally acknowledged four: the literal, the allegorical, the tropological, and the anagogical. Using Jerusalem as an example, this city of peace is not just a historical city in which historical activities took place by historical people. It is also the Church, the faithful soul, and the center of God's new creation.

Fundamentally, this means that everything in Scripture concerning Jerusalem is directly relevant to each one of our lives regardless as to whatever is happening in our current space and time circumstances. Likewise, the same is true regarding just about every character, geographical region, and object described in Scripture. Each of these things can and should be turned inward as one opens up the Heart and unlooses the Mind to more deeply consider how Scripture can be applied to one's own mind, body, and soul. This should not diminish our views of sacred Scripture nor should it cause us to stray down a path of rhetoric wherein everyone is entitled to believe, act, or behave any which way they desire. Truth and Life remain forever, but as we change: so too will the boundary lines shift with us.

With all that in mind, let's briefly consider how one can differentiate between the four senses acknowledged by the Church.

Literal: This is the outer surface level of reading in which a text says what it means and means what it says. Each biblical character is seperate and distinguishable from one another even if they do share the same name or else perform similar typological roles. John the Baptist, the beloved Disciple, and the communities centered around him are therefore seperate characters performing seperate functions in differing capacities. The same is true of the multiple Marys and other characters. The literal sense is the most obvious one, but I hasten to point out that there is a sharp difference between the literalism embraced by the Church down through the centuries and the various forms of fundamentalism that has developed since the Protestant Reformation. These two realities are not at all the same.

Allegorical: This level of reading exists just below the surface level of reading in which a text does not necessarily mean what it says, but rather it points or directs the audience to "another" story being narrated underneath the primary literal sense. The boundary lines between individual characters and typological functions begin to blur at this level, even to the point in which one's allegorical interpretation of a passage is only limited by one's own imagination and creativity. Many find this level of reading to be considerably more satisfying than the literal while others outright reject it on account of how some have abused it. An example of allegory would be Joseph tending the sheep of his father's flock. Literally, it's exactly as it appears. Allegorically, it could be a pastor feeding his congregation the Word of God and tending to their needs. Literally, a tent is a tent and a house is a house and a temple is a temple. Allegorically, all these can be subtituted for one another.

Tropological: This is an even deeper level of reading in which the boundary lines are beginning to totally disappear as typological roles and functions begin to continually redirect oneself to a central and fundamental inward reality. This level is typically described as being a more oriented toward morals, values, ethics, belief patterns, and so forth. One of the primary reasons for this is that one can not arrive at this level of scriptural interpretation apart from a certain level of corresponding praxis or consecration of mind, body, and soul. Using the previous examples, the biblical character of Joseph may not have anything at all to do with a historical man engaged in activities here on planet earth. Perhaps the lands of Canaan and Egypt speak of very different realities than anything that is observable in our geographical or archeological records? Perhaps a tent is a house which is a temple which is a bridal body-vessel being subjected to transformation?

Anagogical: This is certainly the deepest of the four and it is at this level of reading that all the Dogmas of the Faith begin to actually make some coherent sense. The boundary lines have been completely removed at this point and everything is directed towards a common center. At this level, Jerusalem is no longer just a city, a church, a faithful soul, or even the center of God's creation; for these same things are true of the ever-virgin Mary. A tent is not just a smaller example of a temple or even a type of body; for these things are all types of the macrocosmic Temple which we commonly call the universe. Speaking of which, it's worth mentioning that there are additional layers than what I am describing here. As above, so below. As within, so without. As in heaven, so upon the earth. Then there are the four cardinal directions, the four elements of creation, and a host of other Temple or Liturgy related imagery which even I have yet to be fully exposed to.

With respect to my storybook, I will primarily be approaching things from what I loosely characterize as the liturgical perspective; that is, all four senses combined with the greatest emphasis placed upon the tropological and anagogical levels. My assumption is that my audience has already been exposed to the literal and allegorical levels given that there is no shortage of materials availible by which they can be explored. My desire in writing this storybook is not only to introduce others to a deeper way of appreciating the canonical Scriptures but also to help bring some perspective regarding those which exist outside of the biblical canon.

As much as anything, however, this storybook is very much a devotional on my part and is meant primarily to be a form of discovery as I too am very much on a journey to a destination in which I have yet to fully arrive. As such, revisions and corrections may be necessary at a future date but for now I am simply obeying the Master's call in offering myself to others as a multiplication of fishes and loaves. By all means, test what I have to say with Scripture and Tradition. The best advice that I can offer is that which has served me well down through the last 20 years or so. "Chew upon that which nourishes, spit out that which does not."

To conclude this preface, I will offer my own Greco-English transcription of John 1:1-14 with a few notes. My motivation in doing so is to help inspire others to more closely re-examine these texts with fresh eyes that are full of faith and a heart that is ever-encountering of Him within the liturgical life of the Church.

Greek Source Text: Byzantine Textform 2005 & GreekBible
In an arche was the logos
and the logos was [oriented] toward the God
and the God was the logos.

He was in an arche toward the God.
All through him came into being
and without him - not even one thing - came into being - which was made.
In him zoe was
and the zoe was the light of humanity
and the light in the darkness shines
and the darkness can not extinquish it
...
He was the authentic light which illumines all humanity coming into the comos.
In the comos was he
and the comos - through Him - came into being
and the comos did not recognize Him.
Into his own came he
and these belongings did not take him alongside.
As many as took him gave he the ability to become instructed ones of God
...
and the logos became flesh and tabernacled in us
and we contemplated his glory as a uniquely begotten glory of a progenitor full of grace and truth.



Lexical definitions from: GreekBible


arche

1) beginning, origin  2) the person or thing that commences, the first person or thing  in a series, the leader  3) that by which anything begins to be, the origin, the active cause  4) the extremity of a thing  4a) of the corners of a sail  5) the first place, principality, rule, magistracy  5a) of angels and demons

logos

1) of speech  1a) a word, uttered by a living voice, embodies a conception or idea  1b) what someone has said  1b1) a word  1b2) the sayings of God  1b3) decree, mandate or order  1b4) of the moral precepts given by God  1b5) Old Testament prophecy given by the prophets  1b6) what is declared, a thought, declaration, aphorism, a  weighty saying, a dictum, a maxim  1c) discourse  1c1) the act of speaking, speech  1c2) the faculty of speech, skill and practice in speaking  1c3) a kind or style of speaking  1c4) a continuous speaking discourse - instruction  1d) doctrine, teaching  1e) anything reported in speech; a narration, narrative  1f) matter under discussion, thing spoken of, affair, a matter  in dispute, case, suit at law  1g) the thing spoken of or talked about; event, deed  2) its use as respect to the MIND alone  2a) reason, the mental faculty of thinking, meditating,  reasoning, calculating  2b) account, i.e. regard, consideration  2c) account, i.e. reckoning, score  2d) account, i.e. answer or explanation in reference to judgment  2e) relation, i.e. with whom as judge we stand in relation  2e1) reason would  2f) reason, cause, ground  3) In John, denotes the essential Word of God, Jesus Christ, the  personal wisdom and power in union with God, his minister in  creation and government of the universe, the cause of all the  world's life both physical and ethical...

zoe

 1) life  1a) the state of one who is possessed of vitality or is animate  1b) every living soul  2) life  2a) of the absolute fulness of life, both essential and  ethical, which belongs to God, and through him both to the  hypostatic "logos" and to Christ in whom the "logos" put on  human nature  2b) life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted  to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those  who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to  be consummated by new accessions...

cosmos

1) an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order,  government  2) ornament, decoration, adornment, i.e. the arrangement of the stars,  'the heavenly hosts', as the ornament of the heavens. 1 Pet. 3:3  3) the world, the universe  4) the circle of the earth, the earth  5) the inhabitants of the earth, men, the human family  6) the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God,  and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ  7) world affairs, the aggregate of things earthly  7a) the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments riches, advantages,  pleasures, etc, which although hollow and frail and fleeting,  stir desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause  of Christ  8) any aggregate or general collection of particulars of any sort 



My own personalized liturgical definitions.


arche

A begining or origin from which authority is derived or excercised. ie. Archdiosece, Archbishop,  Archetype



logos

1: An organizing intelligence which binds together speech and language in a comprehensible and meaningful way. By extention: the individual letters, grammatical syntax, and organzational qualities inherent to language. 2: The result or end-product of individual words coming together to express thought patterns as word-pictures in such a way as to create entire sentences, discourse, and ultimately mythological stories from which all communication is derived and expressed.
3: The biblical canon is therefore the definitive logos from which the logoi originate and into which their purpose, completion, & fullfilment is to be found. This is best expressed in orthodoxy wherein the logoi not only recognize the one from which they originate but also rightfully glorify according to the function and purpose for which they have been spoken or dreamt into existence. ie. Theology, Eschatology, Cosmology

In short, both the speaker and that which is being spoken. Expressed differently, both the dreamer and that which is being dreamt.

zoe

1: In contradistinction to mere biological life, this divine life originates in spirit. It empowers one to live an overcoming life; that is, life to the fullest extint possible. 2: In the Septuagint, Adam names his wife Zoe because she is the Mother of the living. This gives us a picture of the Theotokos, Mary, who is in fact the Church, from whom's ever-virgin Womb comes forth the sons of the Son by way of the baptismal Fount.

cosmos

An adornment that is either worn or inhabited. By extension, the ordered elements, forms, inhabitants, and expressions of the one wearing or inhabitanting it. When Adam fell, so too did his cosmos. As the New or Last Adam ascends, so too does his transfigured cosmos. The Church is therefore those who have been called out of one fallen cosmos in order to be the Mystical Body of Christ who is also his Holy Bride. Into dust she has fallen, from it she is reconciled unto her Bridegroom. ie. Cosmogenesis, Cosmology, Cosmic