Carey Ellen Walsh ( Exquisite Desire ) points to the difference between classical responses to desire and the account of desire in the Song of Songs. Using Odysseus and the Sirens as an illustration, she notes how this scene reveals the Greek instinct that desire “harbors danger by . . . . Continue Reading »
Love is as strong as death. But no stronger. It’s a standoff. No, Jenson says: “death does not allow of stalemates. If love binds lovers even in death’s despite, death is overcome by love. Nor does the grave allow of partial retrievals; if it yields its . . . . Continue Reading »
Barthian that he is, Jenson gets the point of the Song’s “seal on my heart” just right: Jesus’ “death has made us the seal of his identity: he dies ‘for’ us, in identification with us. Now he is not what he is without us; he did not go into death . . . . Continue Reading »
Robert Jenson ( Song Of Songs (Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching) ) notes that Song of Songs 8:6-7 contains “pervading reference to the myths of Israel’s religious milieu: ” Mot can indeed be translated simply ‘death,’ but it is also a . . . . Continue Reading »
Jealousy refers to a relentless and exclusive passion and attachment. For Solomon, it is as hard as the grave. Once someone goes into the grave, the grave doesn’t let him back up; once it takes hold, it doesn’t let go. Jealousy is like that. It is “that . . . . Continue Reading »
Given the “canon” that Scripture speaks “doubly” of Christ (sometimes divinely, sometimes humanly), it would seem easy for Athanasius to shuffle passages about the Father giving and the Son receiving to the “humanity” side of things. He doesn’t, and . . . . Continue Reading »
Eusebius of Nicomedia, ally of Arius, denied that we can infer anything about God from what has been created. On one hand “there is God” while on the other “things created by free will.” The Word is also a creature of the free will of God. This free will is . . . . Continue Reading »
Love is “as strong as the grave” and ardor “as hard as Sheol.” Both descriptions are arresting because they attribute a kind of violence to love. “Strong” describes the driving wind of the exodus (Exodus 14:21), the raging waters of the sea that swallowed . . . . Continue Reading »
“Put me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm,” says the Bride in the Song of Songs (8:6). Seals mark something with the name of the owner. A letter is sealed as proof of its author (1 Kings 21:8). The high priest’s golden plate is engraved with the name . . . . Continue Reading »
Nature and grace has been a key theological problem at least since the middle ages. But the distinction is often misplaced. As used in Athanasius, for example, the terms refer not to two different realms within the creation, or two different sorts of capacities of human nature. Rather, . . . . Continue Reading »
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