Origen on the Song of Songs As the Spirit of Scripture The Bridegroom's Perfect Marriage-Song

by King, J. Christopher

• ISBN13: 9780199272181
• ISBN10: 0199272182
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-12-08
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Christian 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 exegesisof 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, hisunderstanding 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 theintelligible structures of the text itself.

Author Biography

J. Christopher King is a priest of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real and currently resides in New York City.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	xii
Introduction	1	(37)
Origen and the spiritual reading of the Song of Songs	38	(39)
Origen, the nuptial motif, and the Song of Songs	77	(57)
Origen's grounds for the wholly spiritual reading of the Song of Songs	134	(45)
Origen on the hermeneutical unity of the Song of Songs	179	(42)
Origen on the hermeneutical finality of the Song of Songs	221	(45)
Conclusion: the Song of Songs as the spirit of Scripture	266	(5)
Select bibliography	271	(14)
Index	285