396 - Seraphim Hamilton - Scripture: The Key to Reality

The Symbolic World

Jonathan Pageau

Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 824 Ratings

🗓️ 23 May 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this conversation, I talk with Seraphim Hamilton about how scripture does more than tell a story—it reveals a symbolic pattern that runs through all of creation. We dig into how the Bible presents the world as a kind of cosmic temple, and how that vision unfolds through the Tabernacle, the life of Christ, and the Church.

Seraphim brings a deep knowledge of scripture and tradition to the table, and we touch on some of the key themes he'll be exploring in his upcoming course, Scripture: The Key to Reality. If you’ve been following my work on symbolism and biblical patterns, I think you’ll find this conversation both grounded and illuminating.

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/PpGKURlGayA

NEW COURSE: Scripture: The Key to Reality, presented by Seraphim Hamilton
This course is designed to help students appreciate the unique role the Bible plays in helping us step into the world as it truly is: a symbolic revelation of the Infinite God. Scripture is symbolic because it is a revelation of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the Archetype of the World. In a way, then, Scripture enfolds within itself the totality of the world, guiding its hearers to see an icon of Christ in each of God’s creatures: from trees to beasts to priests.
🗓 Live classes are on Tuesday at 2 - 4 pm Eastern Time, starting June 10th through July 15th, 2025
⏰ Class Length: 5 sessions, 10 hours total
💰 Register for Seraphim Hamilton's course before the end of May to get 15% off when you use the code EARLYSCRIP1 at checkout.
💰 Cost: 120 USD (102 USD with the discount)
👉 Register Today: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/scripture-the-key-to-reality

Seraphim Hamilton is an Orthodox Christian biblical commentator who explores the richness of Christ as He is unveiled in the Old and New Testaments. He has a Master of Arts in Early Christian Studies and a Master of Theology from Duke University. His thesis addressed the relationship between the theology of the Divine Name in Exodus and the writings of St. Dionysius the Areopagite. He is recently married with one daughter and produces regular reflections on Scripture on both Substack and YouTube.
Writings: https://seraphimhamilton.substack.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/kabane
Patreon: https://patreon.com/c/kabane

Timestamps:
00:00 - Coming up
01:23 - Intro music
01:49 - Introduction
02:43 - Scripture is the key to reality
09:17 - What's the difference between Christianity and Pantheism?
13:14 - Why the need for the Tabernacle?
16:56 - Dominion in the fall
21:23 - Cain vs Noah
25:27 - Universal History
26:24 - No temple in the Heavenly Jerusalem
29:57 - Converging on the same patterns
31:38 - Critical analysis of the Bible
37:27 - Second Temple literature
42:32 - Fractal breathing
47:36 - Transfigured clothing

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💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com
🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau
🔒 BECOME A PATRON: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe
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My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	And then when we look at Scripture and we ask the question, what's the unifying vision behind the whole Bible?
0:07.4	Scripture from beginning to end pertains to the divine indwelling of the world in sanctuaries.
0:14.7	And so if you want to see the entire world at once, we go to Exodus 25 to 31. This is where Moses enters into God's presence.
0:25.1	And what does he see when he enters into God's presence? He doesn't just see a bright light.
0:31.1	He doesn't just have a numinous experience, though he does have those things. He sees a vision of a blueprint of a building with furniture,
0:40.6	or more precisely, of furniture.
0:42.5	And that tabernacle is the architecture of the entire creation, because it takes the totality
0:50.6	of the cosmos and it compresses it down into a way that can be seen by one person.
0:58.0	And so when we look at the structure of the tabernacle, we are looking into high heaven and beyond.
1:05.0	And we see the relation that everything in the tabernacle has with everything else.
1:10.0	And in doing that, we can then look at the real world
1:13.8	and see it as an exegesis of the actual creation.
1:18.5	And the whole Bible is fundamentally about this principle.
1:22.9	Music This is Jonathan Peugeot paid attention to the channel,
1:53.3	he has been discussing with me before. He has a very fascinating and powerful vision of
1:59.7	scripture. He has his own YouTube channel.
2:01.6	You can look him up, Sarah from Hamilton, but we're excited that he is going to be teaching a class
2:06.6	for us called Scripture, the key to reality, the Bible as a symbolic world.
2:13.0	And obviously this is something that anybody who watches this believes to be true, but it's
2:17.9	exciting to also get people's minds and people's thought into the scripture because there are
2:23.7	all kinds of ways in which that's the case.
2:25.7	It's not just one single way.
	...

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