The voice of my beloved : the Song of Songs in western medieval Christianity / E. Ann Matter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Matter, E. Ann.

Series:

Middle Ages series.

Middle Ages series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible. Song of Solomon--Criticism, interpretation, etc--History--Middle Ages, 600-1500.

Bible.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxxv, 227 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

The Song of Songs, eight chapters of love lyrics found in the collection of wisdom literature attributed to Solomon, is the most enigmatic book of the Bible. For thousands of years Jews and Christians alike have preserved it in the canon of scripture and used it in liturgy. Exegetes saw it as a central text for allegorical interpretations, and so the Song of Songs has exerted an enormous influence on spirituality and mysticism in the Western tradition. In the Voice of My Beloved, E. Ann Matter focuses on the most fertile moment of Song of Songs interpretation: the Middle Ages. At least eighty Latin commentaries on the text survive from the period. In tracing the evolution of these commentaries, Matter reveals them to be a vehicle for expressing changing medieval ideas about the church, the relationship between body and soul, and human and divine love. She shows that the commentaries constitute a well-defined genre of medieval Latin literature. And in discussing the exegesis of the Song of Songs, she takes into account the modern exegesis of the book and feminist critiques of the theology embodied in the text.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

The Vulgate Text of the Song of Songs

Chapter One. Introduction to the Genre

Chapter Two. Hidden Origins: The Legacy of Alexandria

Chapter Three. The Key to the Code: Allegory and the Song of Songs

Chapter Four. The Song of Songs as the Changing Portrait of the Church

Chapter Five. The Marriage of the Soul

Chapter Six. The Woman Who is the All: The Virgin Mary and the Song of Songs

Chapter Seven. The Genre as Trope: The Song of Songs in Vernacular Literature

Conclusion

Appendix: Latin Commentary on the Song of Songs to 1200

Index of Biblical References

Index of Manuscripts

Index of Modern Scholars

General Index

Notes:

First paperback printing, 1992.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [203]-210) and indexes.

ISBN:

9786613211033

9781283211031

1283211033

9780812200560

081220056X

9780585127057

0585127050

OCLC:

760134543