Thank you Rene, Forest and James and Jim for contributing to this line of thought. It made me think about the importance of the mindset when looking at the Bible. Rene, I reread your chapter on Quakers and Scripture in your book. What a witness of the power of the allegorical or metaphoric way Quakers taught the truth of Scripture.

Your chapter set off a distant bell in my mind about Scripture being taught by allegory so I looked at the history of the church mostly using internet searches. The method of taking an event and seeing in its spiritual meaning can be termed allegory and allegory is made of two words "allos" for a word meaning "other" and "agoreuein" for a word meaning to speak in a public place based on "agora" or marketplace. One definition of allegory could be to describe a meaning other than that which is publically stated or written. Other words with related meaning were metaphor, parable and moral understanding of a statement.

The search showed the method of allegorical interpretation and teaching was favored by the Jewish and early Church leaders. However, traditions that use allegories developed concerns about the misuse of the method which depended so much on the imagination of the teacher and could become disconnected from the public statement on which the allegory was based.

The on-line Encyclopedia of Judism said, "Allegorical interpretation was adopted by the rabbis as a homiletical (rather than systematic) device for expounding a sacred text. Misuse of this technique impelled later Jewish thinkers to formulate rules limiting its utilization."

Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament (1930) says "allegory was also used by Philo and by Paul here (Gal 4:24) for a secret meaning not obvious at first, one not in the mind of the writer, .... Christian preachers in Alexandria early fell victims to Philo's allegorical method and carried it to excess without regard to the plain sense of the narrative."

An article by Ernest F. Kevan, "The Principles of Interpretation," published in 1958 states "The crux of the problem raised by the allegorical method is whether secret and independent senses of Scripture exist, as it were, in their own right"

Michael Davis’ response on Andrew Perriman’s P.OST Blog brings the discussion into the present time with his comments on the writing of Marcus Borg. " There is no reason why an event should not be both symbolic and factual..... In Borg’s argument .... metaphor trumps history. Metaphor is how the modern interpreter, from a supposedly neutral or a-historical standpoint, deals with what is judged to be ‘incredible’ in the texts as historical documents."

One other reference said that allegory was used in legal proceedings because it referred to speaking in the public market where legal matters were adjudicated. This view emphases that allegory would be used to win over the public to the position held by the speaker and not as the basis for the opinion of the speaker. But the allegories and metaphors used by any individual does help one understand their position on what is real to them. If someone uses a metaphorical approach to deny the existence of miracles, it probably reveals a materialistic outlook with a universe closed to any reality not described by 19 and 20^th century scientific procedures; but in order to remain in the Christian fold, they do not make their own Bible like Jefferson did by deleting references to the miraculous.

While Quaker teaching with allegory or metaphor is not unusual, it is possible to speculate about their view of reality based on the consistent message found in their teaching. Rene noted "The simplest thing I can say about it here is that they fundamentally "interiorized" the narrative" I agree and this leads me to what was real for early Quakers which is the New Covenant which represented a cataclysmic change in God’s dealings with His people from external worship with priest, prophets, kings, temples, sacrifices etc. to a Spirit to spirit relationship with the Spirit of God writing His laws on our hearts and all this was new in the work of Jesus Christ.

The history of this change related in Scripture, brought about by the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, demonstrated with miraculous in-breaking of this new reality into everyday life, was accepted as factual by the early Quakers and formed the understanding of reality which is reflected in their teaching and in their living.

An understanding of Quaker reality based on Scripture is central to understanding the power and patterns of early Quaker life. It is worthwhile to look at their Biblical Bases especially since Quakers made so many clear statements of what these beliefs were whenever asked or whenever accused of not basing their beliefs on Scripture.