Origen on the Song of Songs as the Spirit of Scripture: The Bridegroom's Perfect Marriage-SongChristian exegesis of the Song of Songs has long interacted creatively with - and, more recently, reacted critically against - the allegorical interpretation developed by Origen of Alexandria (c.185-c.254) in his Commentary and two Homilies on the Song of Songs. Interest in Origen's exegesis of the Song's narrative elements has dominated past scholarship, which has almost entirely ignored how Origen assesses the Song itself, in its unity as a revealed text. This study aims to show that the Commentary and Homilies - when read in light of Origen's hermeneutic, his nuptial theology, his understanding of the prophetic mediation of inspired texts, and his doctrine of last things - clearly portray the Song of Songs itself as the divine Bridegroom's perfect marriage-song. As such, it mediates Christ's eschatological presence, as the `spirit' of Scripture, in and through the intelligible structures of the text itself. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
1 Origen and the spiritual reading of the Song of Songs | 38 |
2 Origen the nuptial motif and the Song of Songs | 77 |
3 Origens grounds for the wholly spiritual reading of the Song of Songs | 134 |
4 Origen on the hermeneutical unity of the Song of Songs | 179 |
5 Origen on the hermeneutical finality of the Song of Songs | 221 |
the Song of Songs as the spirit of Scripture | 266 |
271 | |
285 | |
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Origen on the Song of Songs as the Spirit of Scripture: The Bridegroom's ... J. Christopher King No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
allegory anagogical biblical biblical book bodiless bodily Bride Bridegroom Cant Canticorum Canticum Cels Celsus character Christ Christian Commentary and Homilies context corporeal Crouzel diVerent divine Logos diYculty doctrine drama earthly Ecclesiastes epithalamium erôs erotic eschatological eVect exegetical Gnostics God’s heavenly historical Solomon Holy Homilies identity identiWes inspired interpretation kairos letter literal sense logoi marriage marriage-song Moses mystery mystical utterances names narrative NRSV nuptial ŒÆd Origen thinks Origen understands Origen’s exegesis Origen’s hermeneutic Origen’s reading passage Paul’s pedagogy perfect Philoc Princ principle prol Prologue prophet Proverbs quae quod read the Song reader reveals RuWnus scriptural text Scripture sexual signiWcance sings skopos somatic Song of Songs Song’s soul soul’s speciWcally spiritual spiritual meaning sponsa story structure teaching text’s textual theological things topos topos and kairos Torjesen Töv union unique unity Wguration Wgurative Wgure whole body whole text Wnal Wnally words Wrst Xesh