The Song of Songs: Interpreted by Early Christian and Medieval CommentatorsJr. Norris, Richard A., Richard Alfred Norris Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003 M11 18 - 325 pages The Song of Songs, traditionally attributed to Solomon, is a collection of lyrics that celebrate in earthly terms the love of a bridegroom and a bride. Throughout the course of early Christian history, the Song of Songs was widely read as an allegory of the love of Christ both for the church and for its individual members. In reading the Song this way, Christians were following in the steps of Jewish exegetes who saw the Song as celebrating the love of God for Israel. In The Song of Songs, the inaugural volume of The Church's Bible, Richard A. Norris Jr. uses commentaries and sermons from the church's first millennium to illustrate the original Christian understanding of Solomon's beautiful poem. In recent times, the Song of Songs has been more a focus of literary than of religious interest, but Norris's work shows that for early Christians, this text was counted, with the Psalms and the Gospels, among those Scriptures that touched most deeply on the believer's relation to God. All in all, Norris's Song of Songs is a masterful work that aptly acquaints contemporary readers with the church's traditional way of discerning in this text a guide to the character of Christian belief and life. This volume -- and the entire Church's Bible series -- will be welcomed by preachers, teachers, students, and general readers alike. |
Contents
1 | 1 |
24 | 19 |
58 | 37 |
812a | 54 |
12b14 | 71 |
1517 | 80 |
12 | 90 |
37 | 98 |
916 | 209 |
13 | 227 |
49 | 232 |
10 71 | 242 |
210 | 253 |
1114 | 266 |
14 | 273 |
510 | 279 |
817 | 114 |
15 | 134 |
611 | 145 |
18 | 154 |
915 | 176 |
16 51 | 188 |
28 | 195 |
1114 | 292 |
Authors of Works Excerpted | 298 |
Sources of Texts Translated | 303 |
311 | |
316 | |
318 | |
Common terms and phrases
angels apostle Apponius Augustine of Hippo beautiful Behold Beloved Bernard of Clairvaux blessed body breasts Bride Bridegroom called CCSL Christ Christian Church comes commentaries darkness daughters of Jerusalem death delight desire divine dwells earth eternal Expositio eyes faith Father flesh flocks flowers fragrance frankincense fruit garden glory God's gold Gospel grace Gregory of Nyssa hand head hear heart heaven heavenly Hebrew Hence Holy Spirit Honorius of Autun human interpretation Jesus John King Kinsman kiss lily Lord Luke Matt means mind Moreover mother mountain mouth myrrh mysteries Nicholas of Lyra Origen palm tree Paul perfect perfumes person praise prophet refer righteous Rupert of Deutz says Scriptures seek Septuagint shadow shining Solomon Song of Songs soul loves speaks spices sweet teaching Theodoret of Cyrus things understand verse vine vineyard virtue voice Vulgate wisdom words young maidens