The allegorical and the literal in the hermeneutics of the sacred text

The author of the paper investigated the correlation of the literal and allegorical content of the sacred text in the hermeneutic perspective. A sacred text is a multi-layered message; narrative, normative and theological components are present in it. The last two components involve the use of allegory as a way to transfer the absolute sense with the help of a finite set of symbols. However, there is an exegetic tradition claiming that the sacred text as a whole has the allegorical nature. This paper demonstrates the foundation of the total domination of the allegorical interpretation: a) the verbal form expression of the trans-verbal content; b) the ''anagogical'' function of the sacred text; c) the intersubjective (intercultural) context of apologetics demanding reception of the sacred text through the prism of the ''universal'' cultural tradition. The conclusion is made about the mutual complementarity of literalism and allegorical interpretation in the process of adequate interpretation of the sacred message. Exegesis is considered as a hermeneutics of the sacred text. An exegetic act is carried out only in a religious context. This context suggests two mutually linked and mutually conditioned hermeneutic positions: a) exegesis is the interpretation of the text in the field of religious experience (in other words, in the presence of the sacred); b) exegesis approves the presence of the sacred text as an object of interpretation. Sacred text is a religious text that has the following parameters: a) the synergetic origin, b) the sacred content, c) the soteriological mental attitude. Recognition of the sacred nature of the text in non-religious hermeneutics is a reference to a class which the text should be attributed to (typological characteristics, classification); the sacred character of the text in religious hermeneutics is first of all an indication of its status (axiological characteristics, qualification). The author considers the sacred text in three main dimensions: a) the text itself; b) the hypertext; c) the context. The Scripture has both a linear and nonlinear (''network'') structure. Therefore, the Scripture is a collection of individual texts, and a single hypertext. The context of the Scripture is the Tradition. The Tradition is a) a cultural context, which determines the presence of the Scripture as the sacred text; b) such an exegetical ''field'', which provides adequate understanding and reasonable interpretation of the Scripture. In addition, the Tradition genetically determines the Scripture; the latter, from this point of view, is the result of a verbal fixation of the former. Genetic and contextual features of the Tradition ensure internal unity and the meaning of the Scripture as the sacred text.

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