The resurrection of the past according to Alexandre Herculano: a secular re-enactement of figural biblical hermeneutics

Abstract

As most scholars have recognized, Herculano’s literary and historiographical concept of «resurrection of the past» did not imply a «restorative» epistemological attitude, but of a «comprehensive» one, towards Portuguese Middle Ages. This paper argues that this attitude is intimately related to the Christian roots of the concept of «resurrection». Here it is asserted that Herculano’s «resurrection of the past» – synonyme of «historical understanding», in the author’s vocabulary – was a secular re-enactment of the figural hermeneutics that gave form to the Bible. First, I describe the romantic nature, and therefore Christian, of the concept of «resurrection of the past». Second, I analyze the structure of Herculano’s «historical understanding». Finally, I study the resemblances between this structure and that one of the biblical figural interpretation. This paper aims to encourage the discussion about the role of biblical thought in the birth of the modern historical conscience.