Moral reading

The tradition of tropological reading of a text derives from the Christian theory and practice of interpreting the figurative meaning of the Bible. It is part of Biblical exegesis.

According to ideas developed by the Church Fathers, the literal meaning, or God-intended meaning of the words of the Bible, may be either figurative or non-figurative; for instance, in Canticles, the inspired meaning is always figurative. The typical meaning is the inspired meaning of words referring to persons, things, and actions of the Old Testament which are inspired types of persons, things, and actions of the New Testament.

The early uses of allegory and tropology were very close. Later a clearer distinction was made between the allegorical mystical, and tropological moral, styles of interpretation.

Literary critic Henry Louis Gates also defines tropological revision in relation to African-American Literature in his work The Signifying Monkey.