Anagogically

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. Interpreted in a mystical spiritual manner, reading texts for their hidden meaning about the afterlife or ultimate heavenly truths
2. Relating to an elevated spiritual reading of scripture that looks beyond literal meaning toward the final destiny of the soul
3. In an anagogical way, explaining something as pointing upward toward heavenly or eternal realities through symbolic interpretation

Etymology: "Anagogically" is an adverb meaning in a mystical sense, and it is built in the plainest way: the adjective "anagogical" with the adverbial ending "-ly" added to it. The adjective carries the real history. It descends from "anagoge," a Greek-derived term for the spiritual or elevating interpretation of scripture, in which a passage is read as pointing toward heavenly or ultimate realities rather than its literal or moral sense. The sense is therefore narrower than "mystically" in general. To read something anagogically is to take it as a sign of final, otherworldly fulfilment, the way medieval commentators read the Bible on four levels. The adverb simply describes doing that kind of reading, or a thing being meant in that way.

Synonyms: mystically, allegorically, symbolically, spiritually

Antonyms: literally, plainly