The Song of Songs and the Eros of God: A Study in Biblical Intertextuality

344 Pages·2010·1.99 MB·English

by  Edmée Kingsmill

OXFORD THEOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS
Editorial Committee
M. McC. ADAMS J. BARTON
N. J. BIGGAR M. J. EDWARDS
P. S. FIDDES D. N. J. MACCULLOCH
C. C. ROWLAND
OXFORD THEOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS
DURANDUS OF ST POURÇAIN
A Dominican Theologian in the Shadow of Aquinas
Isabel Iribarren (2005)
THE TROUBLES OF TEMPLELESS JUDAH
Jill Middlemas (2005)
TIME AND ETERNTIY IN MID-THIRTEENTH-CENTURY THOUGHT
Rory Fox (2006)
THE SPECIFICATION OF HUMAN ACTIONS IN ST THOMAS AQUINAS
Joseph Pilsner (2006)
THE WORLDVIEW OF PERSONALISM
Origins and Early Development
Jan Olof Bengtsson (2006)
THE EUSEBIANS
The Polemic of Athanasius of Alexandria and the Construction of the ‘Arian Controversy’
David M. Gwynn (2006)
CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
A study of the Theologies of Eusebius of Caesarea, Marcellus of Ancyra, and Anthanasius of
Alexandria
Jon M. Robertson (2007)
RIGHTEOUS JEHU AND HIS EVIL HEIRS
The Deuteronomist’s Negative Perspective on Dynastic Succession
David T. Lamb (2007)
SEXUAL & MARITAL METAPHORS IN HOSEA, JEREMIAH, ISAIAH, AND
EZEKIEL
Sharon Moughtin-Mumby (2008)
THE SOTERIOLOGY OF LEO THE GREAT
Bernard Green (2008)
ANTI-ARMINIANS
The Anglican Reformed Tradition from Charles II to George I
Stephen Hampton (2008)
THE THEOLOGICAL EPISTEMOLOGY OF AUGUSTINE’S DE TRINITATE
Luigi Gioia (2008)
THE SONG OF SONGS
AND THE EROS
OF GOD
A Study in Biblical Intertextuality
EDMÉE KINGSMILL SLG
1
3
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To my Sisters of the Love of God
and in memory of
Mother Jane
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Preface
When I joined the Community of the Sisters of the Love of God in 1966, the
Monastic Diurnal, which we then used, was rich in verses from the Song of
Songs, notably the ‘Common of Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary’, in which
all the antiphons came from the Song. But it was the 1960s, and revision was
in the air, influenced in the Community by what I describe in the Introduc-
tion as the ‘friend’ type of response to God. Over the next ten years or so all
trace of the Song would be eliminated from our worship. In the same years I
noticed, while reading theological journals and the like, that the modern
interpretation of the Song requires the use of the adjective ‘erotic’ in the same
breath as any reference to it. I recall a Sister showing me an article she had
written in which she referred to the Song as being ‘full of erotic imagery’.‘If
the Song was full of erotic imagery’, I said to her, ‘it would arouse my erotic
imagination, and it doesn’t.’ She thought for a moment and, agreeing, scored
out the phrase.
Thus when, after twenty years in the Community, I was unexpectedly given
leave by my Superior to pursue full-time study, and told to choose a subject,
the Song immediately presented itself. I planned to learn Latin and Greek in
order to study the Patristic commentaries, and I spent several profitable years,
on and off, in the classes of the Dominicans at Blackfriars. But I was soon led
to the writings of Gershom Scholem, and I recall sitting in the Bodleian
Library in a state of near-ecstasy while reading the chapter ‘The Age of Shiur
Komah Speculation and a Passage in Origen’ in his book Jewish Gnosticism,
Merkabah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition. Consequently, although con-
tinuing to regard any attempt to learn Hebrew as an impossibility, I visited
Leo Baeck College to meet Rabbi Professor Jonathan Magonet––which
proved decisive. ‘How do you know’, he asked, after quoting the Hebrew title
of the Song––Shir ha-Shirim asher liShlomo––‘that all those shshs don’t
mean something?’
The same capacity for the unusual decision led my Superior to agree to my
going to Leo Baeck College as a student, where I spent five immensely fruitful
terms, 1987–9. To that time I owe several friendships, in particular that of Dr
Joanna Weinberg whose critical acumen and profound understanding of the
Rabbinic literature have continued to be available to me. Other acknow-
ledgements, up to the time of submitting a D.Phil. thesis in 2003, are recorded
in that work. Here I can only mention the most important help I have
received during the last six years of preparing this book for publication.
viii Preface
Dr Jeremy Hughes has continued to give me the benefit of his exceptional
knowledge of Semitic languages, and although our approach to the subject is
fundamentally different, my debt to him is immeasurable. Christopher
Morray-Jones has been crucial to my study of early Jewish mysticism, above
all by sending me the typescript of his ‘Merkabah Mysticism in Rabbinic and
Hekhalot Literature’, now published in The Mystery of God, written in con-
junction with Christopher Rowland––another friend who has been a great
help to me at various times. Juliane Kerkhecker, whom I first met when I
joined her Latin class, has become a most valued friend. I owe a very great
deal to her help in checking languages for me.
But where would all this have got me without help in using a computer? I
was lucky indeed to find Absolute Computers in Headington where I met Pat
and Mike Rogerson, from whom I have received endless kindness and instant
help whenever a problem has arisen. Our IT expert, Rachel Severn, has been
on the spot these past few years, and has patiently borne being interrupted
whenever a crisis occurred. I could not have managed without her. Neither
could I have managed without Bob Muller of the Society of Biblical Litera-
ture, who has supplied fonts and given indispensable help whenever applied
to. One of the joys of living in Oxford are its great libraries, and I have been
particularly grateful for the help given by the staff of the Bodleian, the library
of the Oriental Institute, and the Theology Faculty Library. I should also like
to thank Diarmaid Macculloch who, as Chairman of the Oxford Theological
Monographs series, has punctuated the last few years with gentle and
encouraging enquiries about the progress of the work which I have very much
appreciated.
There are others, too numerous to mention, who have helped me at one
time or another, but the person to whom I am most indebted is Professor
John Barton. First, he responded to my request to support an application to
study for an Oxford thesis, and then supervised that thesis with a judgement I
soon learnt to trust implicitly. During these last six years he has always been
available when needed, but it is the comments he wrote after reading the
manuscript of this book for which I can never be sufficiently thankful.
Finally, it is impossible to express the debt I owe to my Community for
allowing me to do something not normally considered to be part of our
vocation. I am especially grateful to Mother Rosemary without whose consent
and encouragement I could not have undertaken a doctoral thesis. The
Superior, who originally allowed me to study, departed this life long ago. But
it is to her, together with my Community, that I dedicate this book.
Fairacres
Oxford
Contents
Abbreviations xiii
Translation xv
Introduction 1
1. The title and the question of dating 6
2. Rabbi Akiva 8
3. The question of canonicity 12
4. Origen 14
5. The ‘Bride’ and ‘Friend’ distinction 17
6. Bridal imagery in the ascendant 19
7. The rise of the ‘Friend’ psychology 22
8. From Luther to Herder 25
9. From Herder to the present 26
10. The question of provenance 35
11. The author 39
12. Some clarifications 42
Conclusion 44
1. The Eros Strand in Wisdom 46
1. ...which belongs to Solomon 46
2. A wisdom book 47
3. Correspondences with the book of Ben Sira (i) 14:
20–7 49
4. Ben Sira (ii) 24: 13–21 50
5. Ben Sira (iii) 24: 8–12 52
6. Correspondences with the book of Proverbs (i) 5:
18–19 54
7. Proverbs (ii) 7: 12–18 57
8. The question of wisdom vocabulary 59
9. Wine, milk, honey, lips, and tongue 61
10. Palate/taste; uprightness/smoothly 64
11. Gold 65
12. Pleasant/delightful; pleasant/sweet 67
13. ‘Bless’ and ‘praise’ 68
14. Master workman 70
15. Despise/contempt; wealth 71
Conclusion 74