In Our Time: Religion · BBC Radio 4

Typology

May 15, 2025·51 min·4 clips
Miri Rubin reveals how typology stems from a Greek word meaning to strike, like a cookie cutter creating endless ideal types.
This episode explores typology, a method of interpreting the Hebrew Bible as foreshadowing the New Testament, with experts discussing its origins in Greek philosophy, development through Christian history, and impact on art, liturgy, and literature. It also examines the complex relationship between Christianity and Judaism, including supersessionist tendencies and modern reinterpretations.

As heard by us

A careful look at how Christian reading turned the Hebrew Bible into a map of meaning.

Typology is the habit of reading one sacred story through another, and this episode follows that idea from Augustine to medieval art and further out.

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Why you'd press play

You want the logic behind biblical pairings.

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