scholarly journals The Song of Songs: Its Basic Teaching and Place in the OT Canon

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-36
Author(s):  
Philip Igbo
Keyword(s):  
Song Of Songs ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Material Wealth ◽  
Human Love ◽  
Love Poem ◽  
Power And Energy ◽  
Physical Dimensions

The Song of Songs is a love poem (or a collection of poems), full of sensuous symbols. The central theme of the book is love; it celebrates human love in all its physical dimensions. Its language is love, a language which seems daring and sometimes even shocking, considering its seeming erotic feature. The author provides a teaching on the place of love and marriage in God’s plan of creation. It focuses on fidelity and mutuality in love between the sexes. The author offers a perspective of love not found elsewhere in the biblical writings. The climax of his teaching on love is contained in Sg 8:6-7. Here the poet emphasizes the power and energy of love. He compares the consuming power of love to “a raging flame” (rišpê ’ēš) which no water can quench. He specifies the value of love: love is so priceless that no material wealth can match it.

To See Is To Assume: Whose Love Is Celebrated in the Song of Songs?1

1993 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Athalya Brenner
Keyword(s):  
Song Of Songs ◽  
Divine Love ◽  
Love Poetry ◽  
Single Female ◽  
Human Love ◽  
Female Protagonist ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Mystical Literature

AbstractThree characteristic features of the Song of Songs are its (a) disjointed or absent plot, (b) gynocentrism and (c) lack of theocentrism. Recognition of these features facilitates a reassessment of the book's allegorical readings, be they ancient or modern, Jewish or Christian, religious or ostensibly secular. The principal readings discussed are Rabin's reconsideration of the Song's intrinsic allegorical properties with reference to Tamil love poetry; M. Cohen's on the Song and Jewish mystical literature (the Shiur Qomah and Hekhalot Rabbati); Murphy's position of reading mutually reflected human love and divine love in the Song; Pope's identification of the Song's assumed, single female protagonist as a black goddess; and Fox's rejection of allegory because of his definitions of metaphor, metaphoric distance and meaning. In conclusion, some reflections on the (ancillary) development of the Jewish allegorical tradition and its links with the Song's cannonization are offered.

Reformation Attitudes toward Allegory and the Song of Songs

PMLA ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 89 (3) ◽  
pp. 551-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
George L. Scheper
Keyword(s):  
Song Of Songs ◽  
Human Love ◽  
Crucial Difference ◽  
Mystical Tradition ◽  
Marriage Contract ◽  
The Senses ◽  
Love Of God

Common generalizations about Reformation attitudes toward allegory are based on polemical denunciations by reformers of medieval “dialectical” exegesis. But Reformation definitions of the senses of Scripture are basically in accord with the definitions of medieval theologians. The reformers' attempts to draw a radical distinction between typology and allegory never succeeded and Reformation commentaries continued to allegorize, as demonstrated in the numerous Protestant commentaries on the Song of Songs. The crucial difference between medieval and Protestant spirituality in the Song commentaries lies not in their attitude toward allegory but in their conception of the nuptial metaphor, wherein human love symbolizes the love between God and man. Some Protestant commentators deny there is any reference to carnal love at all; those that do not, regard the metaphor as too dangerous for explication. Generally, they see that the aptness of the metaphor lies in the moral, domestic virtues of the marriage contract. In contrast, the mystical tradition of the Song, epitomized in Bernard, sees that the metaphor's aptness lies precisely in the passionate nature of the sexual union: it is the union of two in one flesh that is the most perfect symbol of the love of God.

Nature, Humanity, and Love in Song of Songs

2005 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-242
Author(s):  
Daniel Grossberg
Keyword(s):  
Song Of Songs ◽  
Human Love ◽  
Nature Imagery

This essay is a study of the three-fold theme of nature, humanity, and love in Song of Songs and an investigation into the ways nature imagery is used to evoke human love. The work further examines the nature of the highly erotic yet restrained love that is evoked.

Working up to the wire…

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-206
Author(s):  
Philippa Smethurst
Keyword(s):  
Psychotherapeutic Processes ◽  
Internal Structures ◽  
The Wire ◽  
Power And Energy ◽  
Time Boundary ◽  
The Way

This is a reflection on the power of endings and time boundaries, exploring the way that time can act as a catalyst in psychotherapeutic processes. The article describes the ending processes with five clients. These occurred simultaneously due to the author’s relocation. Some responses illuminate hitherto hidden and intractable internal structures, and in others the intensity of the limit acts an impetus for the client to grasp something new. Drawing on Power’s comprehensive book: Forced Endings in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis (2016), the author reflects on the power and energy springing from the setting of the time boundary and the different dynamics created in client and therapist. There is acknowledgement of the pressure that this can create in the therapist and also there are reflections about what ultimately may be achieved.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document