The Song of Songs in the Early Middle Ages / Hannah W. Matis.

• Author: Matis, Hannah W..
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, , Boston : : BRILL,, 2019.
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in the History of Christian Traditions 191.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (263 pages).

In The Song of Songs in the Early Middle Ages , Hannah W. Matis examines how the Song of Songs, the collection of Hebrew love poetry, was understood in the Latin West as an allegory of Christ and the church. This reading of the biblical text was passed down via the patristic tradition, established by the Venerable Bede, and promoted by the chief architects of the Carolingian reform. Throughout the ninth century, the Song of Songs became a text that Carolingian churchmen used to think about the nature of Christ and to conceptualize their own roles and duties within the church. This study examines the many different ways that the Song of Songs was read within its early medieval historical context.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Copyright Page -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Introduction: Love in a Cold Climate: the Song of Songs and the Carolingian Reform -- The Mother of Invention: Bede's Commentary on the Song of Songs -- Adoptionism and the Song of Songs: Exegesis, Controversy, and Context -- "Fair as the Moon, Bright as the Sun": Visions of the Church in the Song of Songs -- Quis custodiet inches per secondos custodes? The Making of the City Watch -- Writing a Song for Solomon: Song Exegesis for Carolingian Kings -- "Love's Lament": Paschasius Radbertus and the Song of Songs -- Conclusion -- Back Matter -- Bibliography.