Landscapes of the Song of Songs : poetry and place

249 Pages·2017·1.468 MB·English

by  James, Elaine T

Landscapes of the Song of Songs

Landscapes of the
Song of Songs
Poetry and Place
z
ELAINE T. JAMES
1
1
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Contents
Acknowledgments  vii
Abbreviations  ix
1. Introduction: Landscape and Lyric  1
2. The Agrarian Landscape  25
3. The Garden  55
4. The Cityscape  88
5. The Map of the Body  118
6. Conclusion  151
Notes  153
Bibliography  199
Index  225

Acknowledgments
Reading the Song of SongS, one is acutely aware of being late to the
conversation. The texts are ancient, their world is knowable only in frag-
ments and in shadows, and many gifted readers have shed their consid-
erable light on them already. I am first and foremost grateful to the many
scholarly minds I have been privileged to become acquainted with during
the writing of this book. I also acknowledge a great debt to the libraries (and
the skillful and patient librarians) of Princeton and St. Paul, where I had
the chance to encounter the voluminous writings on the Song of Songs.
I am grateful to be one more (belated) reader, an opportunity granted to
me by Princeton Theological Seminary and the doctoral fellowship that
provided the means of writing a first draft of this project.
I am grateful to many supportive friends and colleagues, especially
those who read portions and chapter drafts, and whose insight has chal-
lenged and clarified my vision: Cherice Bock, Sean Burt, Blake Couey,
Dan Pioske, Gary Rendsburg, Stephen Russell, Mary Schmitt, and Sarah
Zhang. Special thanks are due to Jacq Lapsley and Dennis Olson, who
served as members of my committee and whose advice, keen literary and
theological sensitivity, and constructive criticism I have especially valued.
Chip Dobbs- Allsopp has been an uncommonly generous and kind advi-
sor. He is remarkably smart, and expended considerable effort in helping
me to become a less unruly scholar. He models the humane significance
of scholarship both in his work and in his person, and the flourishing of
real people is never far from his mind. He provided welcome encourage-
ment for a creative and interdisciplinary project. Warm thanks to Martti
Nissinen, who generously read the project in its entirety. The commisera-
tion of a wonderful group of fellow dissertation- writers enlivened the writ-
ing process: Lisa Bowens, Katie Douglass, Oan Jaisaodee, Janette Ok, Jin
Park, Mary Schmitt, Sonia Waters, and Robyn Whitaker. Thanks are due
to my colleagues in the Old Testament Research Colloquium at Princeton
viii Acknowledgments
Theological Seminary and the Twin Cities Bible Colloquium in Minnesota
for discussions of my work at the beginning and end of my writing. I am
thankful for the institutional support of St. Catherine University: Alan
Silva, Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Sciences, provided sup-
port for the revisions of this manuscript; the Collaborative Undergraduate
Research Program, headed by the inimitable Linda Szymanski and Cindy
Norton, enabled me to work with two exceptional students, Haley Mathison
and Shannon Tacheny, who helped me see slices of the Song in new ways.
I would like to extend thanks to the anonymous reviewers of the manu-
script, whose insights (and frank criticisms) have benefited me, and which
I have attempted to incorporate as seriously as possible. The shortcomings
that remain are wholly mine.
I am grateful to the following presses: to Vetus Testamentum and
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, where portions of Chapter 4 first
appeared; and to Eisenbrauns, and Sarah Zhang and Kevin Chau, who
published a significantly revised version of Chapter 5.
Finally, for his insight and good humor in the course of our long con-
versation, I am grateful to Nathaniel Van Yperen.
It is my hope that this modest contribution to the vast scholarship on
the Song of Songs will offer one way of situating poetic readings in the
ethical tasks of caring for landscapes, imagining the many more readers
who are yet to come.
Abbreviations
AB Anchor Bible
ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by David Noel Freedman.
6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992
AcT Acta Theologica
ACW Ancient Christian Writers
AEL Ancient Egyptian Literature. Miriam Lichtheim. 3 vols.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971– 1980
AJA American Journal of Archaeology
ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament.
Edited by James B. Pritchard. 3rd ed. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1969
ARE Ancient Records of Egypt. Edited by James Henry Breasted.
5 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1906– 1907.
Repr., New York: Russell & Russell, 1962
ASH Ancient Society and History
ASOR American Schools of Oriental Research
ASV American Standard Version
AThR Anglican Theological Review
BAR Biblical Archaeology Review
BARIS BAR (British Archaeological Reports) International Series
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BBET Beiträge zur biblischen Exegese und Theologie
BDB Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs.
A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament
BHQ Biblia Hebraica Quinta. Edited by Adrian Schenker et al.
Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2004–
BHS Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Edited by Karl
Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph. Stuttgart: Deutsche
Bibelgesellschaft, 1983