it has a long history reaching back into antiquity in jewish biblical interpretation. it was taken up and developed by christian theologians like origen and augustine, which ensured its continuance into the work of medieval biblical exegetes. erasmus of rotterdam employed it as did numerous reformation theologians, both roman catholic and protestant. the sixteenth-century protestant reformer john calvin is a key developer of the concept, though contemporaries from martin luther to ulrich zwingli, peter martyr vermigli and numerous others used it.