Symbolology

by Peter Lillback, Ph.D. , President and Professor of Historical Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary

…The incoming fax lay in the tray. Sighing, he scooped up the paper and looked at it. Instantly, a wave of nausea hit him.

The image on the page was that of a human corpse. The body had been stripped naked, and its head had been twisted, facing completely backward. On the victim’s chest was a terrible burn. The man had been branded . . . imprinted with a single word. It was a word Langdon knew well. Very well. He stared at the ornate lettering in disbelief.

“Illuminati,” he stammered, his heart pounding. It can’t be…

In slow motion, afraid of what he was about to witness, Landon rotated the fax 180 degrees. He looked at the word upside down. Instantly, the breath went out of him. It was like he had been hit by a truck. Barely able to believe his eyes, he rotated the fax again, reading the brand right-side up and then upside down. “Illuminati,” he whispered.

Robert Langdon, the Symbologist

Robert Landon, the central character of Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons and Da Vinci Code, is a symbologist, an expert in the symbols and their meanings. As a scholar in the study of the Illuminati, he recognized that the branded word “Illuminati” was also an ambigramatic symbol—a word that could be printed so that it reads the same whether read right-side-up or upside down.

Moreover, using his knowledge of the history of religious and occult symbols, Landon pursues the Illuminati’s “Path of Illumination” in Rome as it had been defined by the mysterious Illuminati. As he does, he uncovers the location of a stolen antimatter canister taken from CERN and planted in the Vatican as a ticking time bomb of cataclysmic proportions.

Langdon knows that the four major locations in Rome associated with the Illuminati were connected with what many ancients believed to be the four primordial elements of the cosmos: earth, air, fire and water. As he follows his symbolic clues, he finds murdered bishops—murdered in a way that reflects these four elements. As he deciphers the clues, he gains insights as to the whereabouts of the killer and the purloined antimatter canister.

What Is Symbology?

Symbolology is a study that can pursue elements of almost all fields of knowledge, because the representative character of symbols makes them useful for almost any human endeavor. Business uses symbols as trademarks for their products. When you think of Nike, Cadillac, McDonalds or USAir what symbols come to mind? When you think of Christianity, Judaism or Islam, why do a cross, a star and a crescent come to mind? When you think of Computers, does this evoke an apple or a four letter name with a crooked E? And symbols can represent a country such as stars and stripes, a broken bell, or an eagle.

But symbols not only reveal meaning, they can also suggest meaning and conceal meaning. So they are a fascinating vehicle to evoke mystery. Put this far-reaching combination together, and it makes for a perfect detective setting. Add a well written story such as Langdon’s sleuthing of the meanings of symbolic clues, and it becomes a page turner on a scholarly level—like Angels and Demons or Da Vinci Code.

Symbology is a word that ends with “-ology”. The Greek work “logos” is the source of the suffix “-ology”. Logos is the Greek word for “word”. This ending means one who speaks about or studies that which this suffix is attached to.

Thus Symbology is defined as “the study or interpretation of symbols or symbolism” and a symbologist is “a person who interprets or represents conditions or truths by the use of symbolism.”

What Is a Symbol?

The word symbol itself is worthy of reflection. It is formed from two Greek words—sym meaning “with” and bol from the word ballo which means “to throw”, a word from which we derive our word “ball” as in baseball or football. Hence a symbol is a “throwing together” of a thing with something that stands for it. By design one thing represents another. The very history of the word symbol is instructive at this point. Carl G. Liungman in Dictionary of Symbols, (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1991) writes,

The word symbol is derived from the Greek word symbolon. In ancient Greece it was a custom to break a slate of burned clay into several pieces and give each individual in a group one piece as a mark of identification. When, at a later date, they met and fitted the pieces together (Greek symbollein) it confirmed that the persons were the same ones, or representatives of those, who had received the pieces of clay in the first place. The use of the word symbol was widened to include the engraved shells that were employed by those initiated in the mysteries, both as marks of identification and as essential components in ritual gatherings. It was only a short step away to the word’s eventual meaning, in which an object, either through a visual similarity or a common agreement between those using it, represented something other than itself (p. 5).

So almost anything, whether an idea, a thing or person, can be represented by something else. A wedding ring, for example, is a well recognized symbol for a marital relationship.

Perhaps the universal human interest in the use of symbols is due to the very way that our minds work. For example, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson write in Metaphors We Live By, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1980) “that most of our normal conceptual system is metaphorically structured; that is, most concepts are partially understood in terms of other concepts.” (p. 56).

And words too are symbols that carry meaning. The letters you are reading are actually symbols—drawings on paper forming words that represent the things that are being discussed. Perhaps the first words were actually symbolic pictures. Such picture-words have been called “pictographs”. Andrew Robinson, The Story of Writing (London: Thames & Hudson, 2007) writes,

But this does not explain how writing actually emerged out of no-writing. [The theory of] Divine origin, in favour until the Enlightenment in the 18th century, has given way to the theory of a pictographic origin The first written symbols are generally thought to have been pictograms, pictorial representations of concrete objects…Others believe [writing] was the work of a group, presumably of clever administrators and merchants. Still others think it was not an invention at all, but an accidental discovery (p. 11).

How Do Symbols Carry Meaning?

As we think about the power of symbols, we move into the realm of meaning. Symbols in themselves are not meaningful. They become meaningful in this act of “throwing them together” with something else. Meaning is not inherent in a symbol, but it is added to it. Again, Liungman explains,

Any object can be called a symbol as long as a group of people agrees that it means more than just itself. A rose can be a symbol for love; two crossed swords, a symbol for war. Graphic symbols are signs or pictures that have been drawn written, painted, or engraved. They can also be called graphs. Drawings found on toilet stall doors or along the walls in the underground are called graffiti (p. 5).

Before a symbol can be used in its representative function its meaning must be established. And if it is to be meaningful to others, its representative meaning must be communicated to another as well. If this meaning is not communicated, it becomes a secret symbol. A symbol that does not reveal its significance to another is not only a secret sign, but also a mysterious symbol. This reality helps to create the interest in the Dan Brown’s novels, since interpreting the hidden and mysterious meanings of the symbols unlocks clues to solving the crimes or the questions under investigation.

Symbols Have Ambiguous Meanings

Symbols like words can be ambiguous. Liungman explains:

A symbol is not the same thing as a sign—something which merely represents something else. Road signs, for example, are signs with a specific meaning: one-way traffic, road works, waiting is prohibited. A symbol, on the other hand, suggests or generates an aspect of life where the number of possible interpretations is infinite and eludes all attempts on the part of the intellect to fix or establish a single meaning. The simplest or most elementary signs have diametrically opposed meanings….The cross stands for death and sorrow and their opposites: eternal life and salvation. The circle means primarily all that exists, all time, all possibilities. But it also means nothingness, zero, no entry, no possibilities, disconnect. The triangle, means not only the supreme power, property, fire, but also danger, evil power, water. The square, is synonymous with the ground, the earth and also with a house, a building,--i.e., something that removes a person from the ground. (p. 10).

Thus symbols like words can be ambiguous. If the meanings are not taught, or if there is more than one meaning associated with the symbol, there can be confusion or a lack of clarity. Many examples of the ambiguity of symbols can be found. “+” can be a symbol or an arithmetic operation, or of a Greek cross. “E” can be a symbol from physics representing energy as in E=MC2 or the first initial in a person’s name. # can stand for a number, a sharp in a musical scale, or a key on a cell phone.
How does one know which is correct? Obviously context helps. Clearly, history helps. But it is this ambiguity that makes for the mystery and allure of Robert Langdon’s scholarship. His knowledge of the meaning of ancient symbols enables him to do the detective work that solves the crime.

Consider the famous example of the number 666. In itself, it represents an idea of quantity. No one can actually see what 666 is. But we understand the idea of counting things. So we can understand that there could be 666 peanuts in a big bag. We can also think of there being 666 marbles in another big bag. We would not identify the peanuts and the marbles, but we would see the number 666 as a measurement that is the same between two different things. Therein, we see the numerical symbolism of the drawings on paper of 666.

But, many also see the number 666 as an identifier of a person’s name, in fact, of a malevolent person who is to come and cause great tribulation for humanity at some future time. How did this meaning become part of the writing of this number? The reason is that this is a meaning given to this number by Revelation 13:18, a passage of Scripture in the last book of the Bible. This is an example of an intentionally ambiguous symbol designed to create interest and mystery.

In fact, in ancient times, this was a well known form of intentional ambiguity caused by the fact that numbers and letters were represented by the same written symbols. So, the letters in a person’s name could be added together as numbers as well as read out by the sounds of the symbols. Thus from antiquity, the “Antichrist” has been seen as one whose name perhaps can total 666. Thus this otherwise innocent number has gained a meaning that is not part of its inherent numerical value. A meaning has been thrown together with the number. Thus it has become a symbol of the man of sin of the end of days.

Symbols Create Mystery, Contradictions and Conflict

Along with such ambiguity, symbols also create mystery by unclear meanings and cognitive dissonance when symbols with opposite or conflicting meaning are intentionally placed in the same context.

So what does 1+-=/<}\@% mean? Perhaps it means a curse word in a cartoon strip. But these otherwise meaningful mathematical symbols have here become confused. Perhaps it is a meaningless collection of symbols. But perhaps it is a secret code that when deciphered will lead you to the lost treasure of the Knights Templar. Which is it? You write the story and let us know!

Cognitive dissonance becomes evident when the tension between meanings becomes evident by the placing of contradictory symbols together. In this case, the contradictory meanings can be so great that they can evoke powerful emotions in response. What does it mean to put a swastika next to a Star of David? What is implied by a Cross next to a Star and Crescent? Is it patriotic to put a hammer and sickle on an American flag?

Given all of the above, one can see why Angels and Demons and Da Vinci Code hold our interest. The pursuit of hidden meanings creates mystery and mystery creates interest. The Scriptures tell us that God is a God of mystery in Deuteronomy 29:29. We also learn that God has revealed the key meanings of His mysteries in Christ (Ephesians 3:1-12). Have you unlocked the meaning of the mysteries of life by faith in Christ?

And finally, what does the following mean?

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I’m sorry, I’m not going to tell. You’ll have to wait for my novel to appear. But until then, enjoy Angels and Demons!

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