The phrase "what it literally says" is best understood allegorically.
On Oct 8, 2005, at 10:57 AM, Dave Monroe wrote:
Longxi, Zhang. Allegoresis:
Reading Canonical Literature East and West.
Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 2005.
Why is it that a text, particularly a canonical text,
is often said to contain a meaning different from what
it literally says?