Allegorical Interpretation and Its Long Shadow Beginning in the 3rd century, theologians like Origen and especially Augustine popularized an allegorical method of interpreting Scripture. This approach treated Israel, Jerusalem, the land, the kingdom, and prophetic texts symbolically rather than literally. It became the backbone of Christian eschatology for over a millennium.
Augustine’s City of God
In City of God, Augustine argued that the earthly Jerusalem had been replaced by the heavenly Jerusalem, and the Church was now the true Israel. The Jewish people, scattered by the diaspora, were seen as rejected by God—a people whose national promises had been absorbed by the Church. The visible decline of Israel was interpreted as divine confirmation.
City of God painted history as two cities: the City of Man and the City of God (the Church). Earthly Israel had no further prophetic role.
Institutionalization by the Catholic Church
This allegorical framework became Catholic dogma, enshrining the idea that the Church was the fulfillment of all Old Testament promises. The diaspora of the Jews was considered permanent and deserved. Catholic liturgy and teaching regularly portrayed Israel as having forfeited its covenant status.
Reformation: Doctrinal Reform, Not Prophetic Reform
The Protestant Reformation (16th century) rightly challenged Catholic doctrines like justification by works, papal authority, and indulgences—but it left intact the allegorical eschatology inherited from Augustine. Reformers like Luther and Calvin largely retained Replacement Theology and continued to view Israel as cast off. Tragically, Luther’s later writings became aggressively antisemitic.
Literal interpretation returned for soteriology (how we’re saved) but not for prophecy or Israel.
The Long-Term Impact
For centuries, the dominant Christian worldview assumed that:
•The Church was the “new Israel”
•The land promises were spiritualized
•The kingdom was now (as the Church)
•The Jews were scattered permanently
This persisted until the 19th and 20th centuries, when dispensationalism revived literal interpretation and the rebirth of Israel in 1948 shattered the old paradigm.
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Romans 11:28–29 – “As regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”