| Romance, She Wrote Contributor(s): Lacocque, André (Author) |
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ISBN: 1597524964 ISBN-13: 9781597524964 Publisher: Wipf & Stock Publishers OUR PRICE: $27.90 Product Type: Paperback Published: January 2006 Annotation: Due in large measure to its unique literary genre, the Song of Songs has been interpreted in diverse ways. "Spiritual" readers of the poem have, for example, felt a deep-seated repugnace before its erotic nature. This has led them to employ a variety of artificial devices to tame it: the text has at times been altered, the metaphors have been allegorized, similes have been labeled grotesque, the date of composition has traveled virtually the whole gamut of biblical chronology, the author's purpose has been reduced to nothing, and the poem itself has become an exercise in futility. All of this, says Andre LaCocque, supports the notion that the issue with which any reader of the Song must come to grips is, first and foremost, a hermeneutical one. A reading of Song of Songs, however, must take seriously the interpretations of this text that have influenced the lives of synagogue and church alike. Allegorical interpretation demands too many textual distortions and too much arbitrariness of explanation in its support. On the other hand, a plain reading, taken in isolation. bypasses levels of meaning that Judaism and Christianity have acknowledged as legitimate. Reading the poem intertextually, LaCocque contends, is a bridge to the traditional midrashic and allegorical interpretation. Using a naturalistic approach, LaCocque shows that the Song is fundamentally a critique of the mores Of conformist societies and of the dualism between body and soul prevalent in sophisticated and popular mentalities. In addition, he insists that the author of the poem is a woman. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Religion | Biblical Studies - Exegesis & Hermeneutics - Religion | Biblical Commentary - Old Testament - General - Religion | Biblical Studies - Old Testament - General |
| Dewey: 223.906 |
| Physical Information: 0.71" H x 5.96" W x 8.98" (0.93 lbs) 256 pages |
| Themes: - Religious Orientation - Christian - Theometrics - Academic |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Due in large measure to its unique literary genre, the Song of Songs has been interpreted in diverse ways. According to Andre LaCocque, this supports the notion that the issue with which any reader of the Song must come to grips is, first and foremost, a hermeneutical one. ""Once in a generation a biblical scholar unlocks the hidden secrets of an entire biblical book. Building upon a thorough knowledge of the full range of ancient and modern exegesis of the Song of Songs, Andre LaCocque--the rare combination of first-rate philologist, theologian, teacher, and preacher--proves that the Song of Songs is the work of a single ancient Hebrew poetess. This poetess, LaCocque demonstrates, writes neither about sex nor about marriage but about that extremely rare occurrence of the meeting and pairing of two human souls, which the Greeks call eros 'love, ' an event not so different from the equally rare meeting of a human person and God, which is often called 'religious experience.'"" --Mayer I. Gruber, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheva, Israel ""Andre LaCocque has written a remarkable, postmodern study of the Song of Songs. On the one hand, it exemplifies the intertextual reading of the Bible as fully as any midrash, but on the other hand, he resists all attempts to harmonize the text with the pieties of tradition. Most of all it continues the 'critique from the margins' begun in his earlier book, The Feminine Unconventional, and shows that a senior, white, European male can have exceptional empathy with female sensitivity."" --John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation, Yale Divinity School Andre LaCocque is Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Chicago Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Trial of Innocence and The Feminine Unconventional and coauthor of Thinking Biblically: Exegetical and Hermeneutical Studies. |
Contributor Bio(s): Lacocque, Andre: - Andre LaCocque is Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Chicago Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Trial of Innocence and The Feminine Unconventional and coauthor of Thinking Biblically: Exegetical and Hermeneutical Studies. |