Anthony Collins' "Allegorical Interpretation" Thought Study

Anthony Collins was a notorious British deist and the Enlightenment thinker in the 18th century.His works A Discourse of the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion and The Scheme of Literal Prophecy Considered are a series of incendiary pamphlets with the purpose of criticizing Christian doctrines and insincerely,defending allegorical interpretations.Anthony Collins's Allegorical Interpretation is not about constructing Biblical Hermeneutics,but serious about dismantling and denouncing Christian prophecies.The ideological connotation and characteristics of Anthony Collins's Allegorical Interpretation mainly included the following four aspects.First of all,it is rationalism that the ideological principle of Allegorical Interpretation by Anthony Collins.Collins takes reason as the criterion to examine and test Christian Scripture,which determines that Collins' judgment on religious affairs is necessarily unfriendly and derogatory.Secondly,Collins attempts to explore the foundations of Christianity,which he believes is rooted and justified in the fact that the Old Testament prophecies,directly and completely,fulfilled in Jesus.But Collins points out that the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets not fulfilled completely and directly through Jesus in the literal sense,but only in the allegorical,typical meanings and mystical sense.Thirdly,although Collins claimed that the prophecy fulfilled in a metaphorical or typical meanings,it by no means that he agrees with the allegorical interpretation.He always tries to explain that the allegorical,typical and mystical meanings of Christian prophecies are only the self-justifications of Christian exegists,which is an implausible view with the nature of apologetics.Generally speaking,Anthony Collins denied the Christian prophecy both literally and metaphorically.Fourth,Anthony Collins' s Allegorical Interpretation has a strong critical feature.The target of Collins' criticism is the Christian doctrinal theory and the Christian church,and it shows the characteristics of strong anti-clericalism.Anthony Collins's Allegorical Interpretation has its profound historical reasons.First,from a political perspective,the British Bourgeois Revolution liberated the shackles of the feudal remnants on the bourgeoisie in the 17th century,thus promoting the prosperity of the British economy and culture,which had achieved great development on philosophy and natural science,and had taken on the flourishing scene of the public ideological and cultural field.It can be seen from the legal system of Collins era that the social tolerance mechanism had its historical limitations.Based on this political and social environment,Anthony Collins published his works anonymously and chose Allegorical Interpretation as the line to obliquely convey his criticism of Revealed Religion.Therefore,as far as Collins was concerned,Allegorical Interpretation is essentially a way to avoid political,legal and public risks.Second,from the perspective of ideological origin,Collins' Allegorical Interpretation has a profound ideological and cultural background.On the one hand,the core of Collins's Allegorical Interpretation is rationalism.Collins rational thought is derived from the British profound traditional rational thought in the 17th century.The Great Tew Circle,Cambridge Platonists,Latitudinarianists,and British empiricism philosopher John Locke have significant impact on rationalism of Anthony Collins.On the other hand,Collins's Allegorical Interpretation is closely related to the Greek and Latin Fathers's allegorical interpretation and the religious disputes of prophecy and miracles in the 17th and 18th centuries.Therefore,it can trace back to between the two.However,Collins didn't agree with the Greek and Latin Fathers's allegorical interpretation of scripture,he was only in the name of defending the Greek and Latin Fathers's Allegorical Interpretation,thereby,denouncing the Christian prophecy.This is not a single event,and,British thinkers hold discussion on Christian prophecy and miracles in the 17th and 18th century.Collins knows it,intimately.He merged John Locke and Grotius's theory and formed the Allegorical Interpretation as the clue,to refute the prophecy of the Christian religion criticism theory.From the perspective of Enlightenment,Anthony Collins' s thought has historical significance.He is not only known for his criticism of Christian prophecy,but also for his naive materialism and moral determinism,which not only aroused heated discussion in the Enlightenment of Britain,but also influenced French Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire and Holbach.