The Fantastic Imagination in Christian Interpretations

 

                                       

The Distortion of truth through Theological Imagination

Introduction

It is a common fact that the creators and interpreters of Christianity, in their writings, claim to be inspired by the Holy Spirit or by other unconventional means such as dreams, apparitions, and illuminations. These inspirations have supported many brilliant writings of these religious scholars.

Philo of Alexandria (20 BC – 45 AD), a Jewish theologian, student of Plato, exegete, writer, historian, and one of the pillars of Christianity, offers an explanation of this type of inspiration. According to Philo, revelation is necessary to resolve questions that reason alone cannot clarify. This revelation is a kind of divination, an intuitive grasp not produced by study, opposed both to laborious understanding and superficiality. It refers to knowledge in which the divine spirit replaces the human spirit.

Revelation and Imagination in Scripture

This notion of revelation relates to what would later be called imagination, leading directly to mysteries. These mysteries are often used to avoid explaining the inexplicable or to conceal a lie born of imagination.

Philo of Alexandria argues that the Bible can be interpreted literally or allegorically. The latter method was systematized by Philo and adopted by the Church Fathers to interpret Scripture. They claimed that this method had practical utility, as it allowed for a vivid presentation of doctrine. However, they did not clarify that this presentation was the product of their imagination, which allowed them to indulge in pious or deceitful exaggerations, contrary to truth and reason, forgetting that the basic sense of the Bible is the literal one. They sought to change its meaning to impress the fantasy and imagination of men, in order to dominate them, asserting that the Bible is the word of God that teaches men true happiness or the path to salvation, when in reality it shows something entirely different.

Imagination in Theological Interpretation

The imagination used by Christian theologians is vague and inconsistent. Consequently, simple imagination does not inherently imply certainty. To be certain of the things we imagine, it is necessary to add reasoning, though even then, one cannot claim it as truth.

Many interpretations by the scholars of Christianity diverge from what is written literally, making it seem that the Scriptures meant something else, but for some reason chose to describe it as such. To validate their claim, they establish that it is the Holy Spirit who has enlightened them to decipher and make their followers understand what is written there.

Examples of Imaginative Interpretations

Many examples could be cited of that prolific imagination of the Church Fathers. It could even be said that most of their interpretations are the product of that fantastic imagination that accompanies them.

Everyone knows the fable of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, where “the tree of life” is mentioned. Philo of Alexandria considers it not as a mysterious tree whose fruits produce immortality when eaten, but as a symbol of the sun, the source of life, which also represents the mind and the heart. Philo discovers in this tree the life of piety, typical of perfect men. Should we unreservedly accept that fantasy born from the mind of Philo of Alexandria just because he was a great theologian and apologist?

Irenaeus of Lyon (130-202), using his imagination, claimed that Adam was a child and had to develop to reach adulthood, and therefore did not have perfect judgment, making it easy for the tempter to deceive him. Who was the tempter? Eve, also newly created. And did she have perfect judgment? Ambrose of Milan (340-379) asserted that, without a doubt, Adam and Eve perfectly knew and understood the difference between good and evil, as they were not children and knew the dimension of the commandment. That assertion by Irenaeus, besides being ridiculous, contradicts the theologians who attributed to Adam the gift of infused knowledge.

Clement of Alexandria (150-215), a Jewish exegete, also used his imagination by asserting that God created Adam immortal and that death was introduced by the first man when he ate from the forbidden tree. That is, Adam was immortal and by eating from the tree of good and evil, he became mortal. This imaginative theory, of course, was shared by the Church Fathers and turned into profound philosophy and irreducible theology accepted without hesitation, to strengthen the fiction of Adam and Eve, and to exclude or minimize the man and woman created by an omnipotent God in the first creation of the world as described in Genesis 1.

The Contradiction of Interpretations with Scripture

Prior to these interpretations, Philo of Alexandria, on the same subject, extracted from his fertile imagination that in the first creation of the world (Genesis 1), God created a prototype, an exemplary idea of man, who is neither corporeal nor mortal, neither male nor female, nor subject to passions, vices, or physical corruption. In other words, it is a heavenly man who does not participate in anything earthly. But in the second creation (Adam and Eve), God took dust from the earth and molded man, who is indeed mortal, is male or female, has passions and vices, limitations and ailments; that is to say, he participates in all that is earthly because he was made from the dust of the earth.

These creations, products of Philo of Alexandria's imagination, were later developed and considered certain by Origen (184-253), theologian, philosopher, translator, writer, and Church Father, and by Ambrose of Milan (340-379), who maintained that in the first creation, God formed the soul and in the second, the physical body.

It is evident that Philo of Alexandria and all the Church Fathers who share and develop his imaginative theory contradict what is written in Genesis 1:27-28: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." "And God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it…’"

It is unquestionable that God created humans, not a prototype nor a heavenly man. To these humans, He commanded to grow and multiply; the Scripture is clear. In Genesis 1:29, God gives them plants and fruits to eat. A heavenly man, or a soul as Philo of Alexandria calls it, who is not corporeal, is neither male nor female, cannot grow and multiply because humans would all be heavenly and immortal; a heavenly man does not need to eat. I believe that the absurdity of this imagination needs no further comment. Each reader is free to draw their own conclusions.