Calvin Theological Journal 51 (2016): 227–258
Nuptual Reading: Hippolytus, Origen and Ambrose on the Bridal Couple of the Song of Songs
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Disagreement over the appropriateness of allegorical interpretation is perhaps nowhere more pronounced than when it comes to the Song of Songs. Few contemporary biblical scholars advocate for an allegorical reading of this book. Yet the earlier tradition is virtually unanimous on the need for an allegorical reading of the Song of Songs.
The modern objection to allegorical readings of the Song is not only because they arbitrarily twist the original meaning of the text but also because they continue to serve the denial of the intrinsic goodness of the body and of sexuality. The denial of the body for the sake of the soul and of earthly pleasures for the sake of heavenly joy ties in directly, so it is thought, with the rejection of a literal reading of the Song in favor of a spiritual reading. In other words, the assumption is that a fundamental dualism affects both attitudes toward sexuality and the interpretive stance vis-à-vis the Song of Songs.
It is not my purpose, however, to turn the tables on contemporary detractors of spiritual readings of the Song of Songs. Rather, my aim in this chapter is a more limited and defensive one: I simply wish to dispute the claim that it is escapism—a rejection of the physical and/or textual body—that drives the allegorical exegesis of the Song of Songs in the Christian tradition. At a fundamental level, patristic readings of the Song of Songs are sacramental. This does not mean that the history of interpretation of the Song is without its problems, perhaps even at times problems of a dichotomous character. It is simply to say that by and large it is not such dichotomizing but rather a sacramental approach that shaped the impetus and practice of the alle- gorizing of the Song of Songs.
In order to make this argument, I will focus on the exegesis of three patristic theologians: Hippolytus of Rome, Origen of Alexandria, and Ambrose of Milan. Considering the popularity of the Song of Songs in the Early Church, this is a relatively limited overview, but it will nonetheless enable us to draw several conclusions.
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