Literal and Figurative Interpretation Of Holy Scripture

Muslims, Christians and Jews believes that God has send prophets for guiding man and has send His messages to people through the revelation to the prophets. The most of these revealed messages constitutes Holy Scripture such as the Old Testament, New Testament. A short glance at the history of Christianity and Judaism and exegetical works show that the different exegetical schools have presented diverse understandings of the religious teachings. These different views sometimes make people confused in understanding the intended meaning of Holy Scripture. Among types of interpretation, two are more common and have a longer history: the literal and the figurative interpretation. The former is merely concerned with the first layer of meaning but the latter looks for the hidden and spiritual connotations. The figurative type of interpretation has always been useful in the explication and interpretation of the Holy Scripture. In figurative interpretation, Christians have benefited largely from Jews; especially they could connect their texts to the holy texts of the Jews.