The Song of Songs: Interpreted by Early Christian and Medieval Commentators (Church's Bible) [Hardcover]

Richard A. Norris Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Series: Church's Bible | Publication Date: October 2003

The Song of Songs, traditionally attributed to Solomon, is a collection of lyrics that celebrate in earthly terms the love of a bridegroom and a bride. Throughout the course of early Christian history, the Song of Songs was widely read as an allegory of the love of Christ both for the church and for its individual members. In reading the Song this way, Christians were following in the steps of Jewish exegetes who saw the Song as celebrating the love of God for Israel. In The Song of Songs, the inaugural volume of The Churchs Bible, Richard A. Norris Jr. uses commentaries and sermons from the churchs first millennium to illustrate the original Christian understanding of Solomons beautiful poem. In recent times, the Song of Songs has been more a focus of literary than of religious interest, but Norriss work shows that for early Christians, this text was counted, with the Psalms and the Gospels, among those Scriptures that touched most deeply on the believers relation to God. All in all, Norriss Song of Songs is a masterful work that aptly acquaints contemporary readers with the churchs traditional way of discerning in this text a guide to the character of Christian belief and life. This volume _ and the entire Churchs Bible series _ will be welcomed by preachers, teachers, students, and general readers alike.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802825796
• ISBN-13: 978-0802825797
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #598,743 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Make me hear your voice..., January 5, 2004

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Song of Songs: Interpreted by Early Christian and Medieval Commentators (Church's Bible) (Hardcover)

The books in this series by Eerdmans, `The Church's Bible', is part of a series of historical reflections on biblical development and interpretation during the first millennium of Christianity. As the series editor Robert Louis Wilken points out, during that first thousand years, all questions of practice, theology and ethics began with the biblical text. Few are familiar with the richness of commentary and understanding that comes from the scholars, saints and biblical explorers of the first thousand years, the `undivided' years, of Christendom. This series presents biblical texts laid out with commentary following from the wide variety of writers from that period.

In this particular volume, produced by Richard Norris, the selected commentaries largely come from sermons or interpretations written specifically for the Song of Songs. Many of them, according to Norris, are incomplete - that is, they only concentrate on small portions of the biblical book. Other sources included reference the Song of Songs incidentally or peripherally, yet demonstrate important points about Christian thought from these historical periods.

Wilken provides a series introduction, discussing general Old Testament themes and interpretations, and following this Norris provides a basic introduction to the text and the method of this volume. The main section sets out the text of the Song of Songs in a side-by-side parallel of a translation from the Septuagint and from the Vulgate (the books used by the ancient commentators), followed by passages from the ancient authors. All of these are presented in new translation by Norris into modern English. The pericopes are also introduced with commentary by Norris to set overall context and themes.

There is an appendix with brief biographical information on each of the twenty-one ancient commentators. This include well-known names such as Ambrose, Augustine of Hippo, Bernard of Clairvaux, Gregory of Nyssa and Bede the Venerable, but also lesser-known names such as Rupert of Deutz and Apponius (known really only for his commentary on the Song of Songs). Origen is included in the list despite his somewhat problematic relationship with the church.

This is a book designed for scholars, clergy, and others who have a deep and abiding interest in the history the way texts are interpreted. Combined with modern commentaries on the same texts, books of this series can be enlightening and fascinating for the reader to see how much things have changed, and how many things have not.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My companion, December 2, 2009

By 

Erikah Whytë "Erikah Whytë" (NC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Song of Songs: Interpreted by Early Christian and Medieval Commentators (Church's Bible) (Hardcover)

Richard Norris has become a companion in my walk with God as a bride of The Son of God. With this book on my lap, I have spent several months in a sort of delightful friendship with Richard who so beautifully put together a most precious love letter to God's bride, in this translation of the Church's bible. I am so pleased! I hope more will come to benefit from the companionship of these writings.