quadriga: the fourfold pattern of medieval exegesis; a pattern that views the biblical text as having meanings that are (1) literal/historical, (2) tropological/moral, (3) allegorical/doctrinal, and (4) anagogical / ultimate eschatological. This fourfold pattern had its beginnings in the patristic period, when the fathers—under the impact of established Jewish exegesis of the Old Testament, the allegorical tendencies of the New Testament itself (e.g., Gal. 4:22–26; Heb. 5:5–10), and the unacceptable literal readings of the Old Testament used by the gnostics to argue for its rejection—moved beyond the letter of the text, particularly in their reading of the Old Testament, to what they considered to be the “spirit,” or spiritual meaning. Origen codified the approach by distinguishing the literal or somatic, bodily, reading of the text from a higher moral or pneumatic meaning and a still more profound doctrinal or psychical meaning. A less rigid pattern, which distinguished the literal, moral, and doctrinal meanings and pointed toward Christian hope, was developed by Augustine in Christian Doctrine, the volume that became the basic hermeneutical manual of the Middle Ages.
The carefully enunciated fourfold pattern of the Middle Ages was based on the association, already made by Augustine and Gregory the Great, between the three theological virtues—faith (fides, q.v.), hope (spes, q.v.), and love (caritas, q.v.)—and the meaning of the text of Scripture as it speaks to Christians. The Christian exegete does not, then, disdain the sensus literalis (q.v.) or sensus historicus, the literal or historical meaning, but learns of it and uses it as the point of departure for searching out the relation of the text to the theological virtues. When the literal or historical sense includes details concerning human conduct, it bears a lesson for caritas and issues forth in the sensus tropologicus, or tropological meaning. The trope, related to caritas, manifests the Christian agenda (q.v.), work to be done. Similarly, the literal sense may include details that point toward Christian faith: thus the sensus allegoricus, or allegorical meaning, has reference to fides and to the credenda (q.v.), or things to be believed by the church. Finally, the literal sense may point beyond the history it narrates to the future of the church. This is the sensus anagogicus, the anagogical sense, which relates to spes and teaches of speranda (q.v.), things to be hoped for. Although this fourfold pattern was subject to abuse and excess, the medieval doctors generally used it in such a way as to find all meanings of a text expressed literally somewhere in Scripture, particularly in the New Testament fulfillment of the Old Testament promises. In addition, the method did not ignore the literal meaning of the text, as sometimes alleged, but used it as the basis for each of the other meanings (see Theologia symbolica non est argumentativa). The method, moreover, did not demand that all four meanings be found in each text. The quadriga was summed up in the following mnemonic couplet taught in the medieval schools:
Litera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria;
moralis quid agas, quo tendas anagogia.
The letter teaches of deeds, allegory of what is believed;
morality of what is done, anagoge of things to come.
Even before the Reformation, the strict fourfold method began to be modified by or set aside in favor of simpler patterns stressing a more or less unitary meaning of texts. Aquinas, for one, placed a strong emphasis on the literal sense of the text, but he argues that the literal sense must be the sense intended by the Holy Spirit as the author of Scripture. Nicholas of Lyra proposed a double-literal meaning of the Old Testament, which operated along lines of promise and fulfillment, while the humanist scholar Lefèvre d’Étaples proposed a spiritual-literal meaning of the Old Testament, which placed the literal meaning of the text in its New Testament fulfillment.
With the Reformation and the increasing impact of linguistic and grammatical studies on the part of both Reformers and humanists, the meaning of the text became more and more firmly lodged in literal and grammatical understanding of texts. Nevertheless, the Reformers maintained the medieval concern for the direct address of the text to the church; the living voice (viva vox, q.v.) of God speaks in the Scriptures. To the end of his days Luther maintained a strong tendency toward tropology, particularly in his reading of the Old Testament; and Calvin used a hermeneutic of promise and fulfillment to present the direct address of the Old Testament to his own time—paralleling the interest of the allegorical and anagogical reading of the text. Calvin’s exegesis was primarily theological and evidenced strong interest in doctrinal, moral, and eschatological implications of texts.
These concerns remain among the Protestant orthodox, particularly in view of ongoing polemic with Rome over the status of Scripture. From the Protestant orthodox perspective, the claim of multiple senses in the text of Scripture was linked to the claim of the priority of church and tradition over the text: the unity of the literal sense and resulting perspicuity of the text supported argument for the prior authority of Scripture. Nonetheless the orthodox exegetes and theologians recognized throughout Scripture figurative language, movement from promise to fulfillment, and doctrinal, moral, and eschatological meanings. One approach to the resolution of this issue was to recognize that the literal and figurative senses of a text do not necessarily stand in contrast or opposition: in some texts the figurative meaning may be the basic sense of the text. The work of the exegete ought to uncover the basic sense—in explicit agreement with Aquinas—the sense intended by the divine author, which in many cases is figurative. Another approach was to insist on a single genuine sense of the text while also allowing that this single sense could be either a simple, historical sense or a composite sense (sensus compositus, q.v.). When a text bears a purely simple sense, it presents one meaning or implication and one only, whether a doctrine, a precept, or a point of history. A text bears a composite sense when it contains a prophecy or figure, specifically, a type the full meaning of which is recognized only when the type is shown in its relation to the antitype. The distinction between the medieval quadriga, other patterns of medieval exegesis, and Reformation or Protestant orthodox exegesis must therefore not be exaggerated. All of these approaches belong to the non-historical-critical mode of exegesis that is sometimes identified as “precritical.” There is, moreover, a significant difference between the literal and historical sense as understood in Reformation and Protestant orthodox exegesis and the modern critical exegesis, which restricts meaning to the dead letter of the text and attempts to reconstruct the history under the narrative line of the text. See historicus; sensus mysticus.
qualitas: quality. See praedicamenta.
quantitas: quantity. See praedicamenta.
Quantum credis, tantum habes: To the extent that you believe, to that extent you possess; i.e., theology cannot be possessed by those who have no faith.
quidditas: whatness (of a thing); synonymous with essentia (q.v.); the answer to the question Quid est? “What is it?”
Quidquid movetur ab alio movetur: Whatever is moved is moved by another. See Omne quod movetur ab alio movetur.
Quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur: Whatever is received is received according to the condition of the receiver.
quintessentia: the fifth element, aether. See elementum.
quoad exercitium / quoad specificationem: as far as exercise / as far as specification; primarily used to express the mutual interdependence of intellect and will in producing human action. The intellect is dependent on the will quoad exercitium actus, while the will is dependent on the intellect quoad specificationem actus. In other words, the act cannot be completed without the exercise of the will, but the will does not specify the object of the act and accordingly cannot act apart from the specification of the intellect. The distinction is crucial to the understanding of free choice (liberum arbitrium, q.v.). See intellectus; voluntas.
quoad nos: as far as us; i.e., as far as we are concerned.
quoad res / quoad verbum: as far as or concerning the thing / as far as or concerning the word. See authoritas divina duplex; autographa.
Quod erat demonstrandum: Which was to be demonstrated; usually seen in its abbreviated form, Q.E.D., set at the end of a logical demonstration.
Quod non est biblicum, non est theologicum: What is not biblical is not theological.
Quod non habet, dare non potest: What it does not have, it cannot impart; said specifically with reference to causality, inasmuch as there can be nothing in an effect that is not in some sense present in its cause: there must be a proportionality between cause and effect. See causa.
quod non potest aliter se habere: that which cannot be otherwise. A classic definition of the necessary, as distinct from the contingent, which is quod potest aliter se habere, that which can be otherwise. Also, quod non potest non esse, that which cannot not be. See contingentia; necessitas.
quod potest aliter se habere: that which can be otherwise; i.e., something contingent. See contingentia; necessaria; quod non potest aliter se habere.
quod potest non esse: that which is able not to be. See contingentia; necessitas.
quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est: that which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all; the so-called canon of Vincent of Lérins (d. ca. 450), which measures universal or catholic orthodoxy.