Typology and Theology in Northrop Frye's Biblical Hermeneutic

Abstract

This paper addresses Northrop Frye's biblical hermeneutic. Frye intends his interpretation of the Bible to be 'literary' (as opposed to theological) which for him means that it explicates how or why a poet reads the Bible. In so doing, Frye employs typology, believing that he is able to eliminate the theological elements of typology in his purely literary interpretation of biblical texts. However, a closer examination of typology itself shows that when it is applied to the Bible, as it is in Frye's writings, typology cannot be divorced from its theological foundations. Contrary to Frye's belief that his biblical hermeneutic is a non-theological interpretation of biblical imagery, I argue that Christian typology provides the inescapable framework for Frye's reading of the Bible.