The multiple literal sense according to Saint Thomas Aquinas

Abstract

This article is intended as a new contribution to the discussion that took place during the twentieth century on whether St Thomas affirms the existence of a multiple literal sense. To this end, the author first revisits the theoretical texts in which St Thomas dealt with the issue. Thus, he recognises the Aquinas’s affirmation of a multiple literal sense, meanwhile he clarifies those texts where he seems to deny it. Then, he considers Thomas’s use of this principle in his exegesis. Finally, he frames it in his biblical hermeneutics to see its meaning and to show that it is not a juxtaposed element, but coherent with it.  It is precisely these last two points that shed new light on the meaning and the basis of the multiple literal sense in Aquinas. For Holy Scripture is a word that God wants to address to every man for his salvation, which is made plural in order to communicate its richness and to reach every man in his situation.