Reading Song of Songs as wisdom literature: an interpretive approach integrating sexuality and spirituality
| dc.contributor.advisor | Snyman, S. D. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Oosthuizen, Marlene | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2016-01-22T07:26:36Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2016-01-22T07:26:36Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2014-06 | |
| dc.description.abstract | English: This history of interpretation of Song of Songs clearly shows interpreters’ struggle to understand this blatantly sexual text in the midst of Holy Scripture. The widely divergent interpretations indicate how hermeneutical keys are constructed according to the context, theology, and/or sexual ideologies of the interpreters. In a society that was hostile towards the body and towards women, the Song of Songs was interpreted spiritually for centuries by means of allegory. According to this line of interpretation Song of Songs portrays the love relationship between God, as the male lover, and the church, synagogue, soul, or Mary as the female lover. In the wake of the Enlightenment, the literal meaning of the text moved sharply into focus and a new wave of sexual interpretations abounded ending in a vague, a-theological, appreciative approach for a text that seems to be nothing more than an anthology of secular love poems. The inability of interpreters to cross the dualistic spiritual/sexual divide is a reflection of a serious problem in society where people still view sexuality as secular and removed from the realm of spirituality. The traditional and contemporary lines of interpretations of Song of Songs are at an impasse – spiritual interpretations ignore the sexual content and sexual interpretations provide no theological meaning. This research project explored the possibility that Song of Songs can be read as part of the corpus of biblical wisdom literature corpus and by doing so, can contribute to the integration of sexuality and spirituality. A list of characteristics of wisdom literature was compiled by examining the views of prominent wisdom scholars. The list consists of three main divisions, namely: 1) general characteristics; 2) literary characteristics; and 3) characteristics of content. Literary characteristics are further divided into subsections exploring form, vocabulary, rhetoric, and metaphors. Content is explored in terms of Solomonic tradition, subject matter, cosmology, anthropology, and scepticism and critique. Eighteen characteristics are identified and formulated in question forms to test against the text of Song of Songs. When the list of wisdom characteristics was applied to Song of Songs, it was found that Song of Songs performed exceptionally well in most instances. It was concluded that it is justified to read Song of Songs as part of the canonical wisdom literature. 102 Reading Song of Songs as wisdom literature presents us with an opportunity to provide a frame of reference that can curb interpretational extremities. A wisdom reading of Song of Songs also offers a stable centre of theological focus. Teaching the Bible-reading communities to read Song of Songs as wisdom literature affords us the opportunity to empower people to experience a God-conscious sexuality and a deeply sensual spirituality. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | Afrikaans: Die interpretasiegeskiedenis van Hooglied weerspieël duidelik hoe eksegete worstel om hierdie blatante seksuele teks, wat deel is van die Heilige Skrif, te vertaan. Die wyd uiteenlopende interpretasies is ‘n aanduiding van hoe hermeneutiese sleutels gebruik word wat verbonde is aan die konteks, teologie, en/of seksuele ideologieë van die interpreteerders. In ‘n wêreld wat vyandiggesind was teenoor liggaamlikheid en teenoor vroue, was Hooglied vir eeue lank geestelik geïnterpreteer met behulp van allegorie. Volgens hierdie lyn van interpretasie weerspieël Hooglied die verhouding tussen God as die minnaar, en die kerk, sinagoge, siel, of Maria as die minnares. In die nadraai van die Verligting is daar gefokus op die letterlike betekenis van die teks, en ‘n verskeidenheid nuwe interpretasiebenaderings wat fokus op die seksuele aspek het ontstaan. Hoewel daar tans groot waardering vir die teks bestaan, word dit meestal benader as ‘n versameling liefdesgedigte met geen teologiese waarde nie. Die onvermoë van interpreteerders om Hooglied te gebruik om ‘n brug te slaan tussen seksualiteit en spiritualiteit is ‘n weerkaatsing van ‘n ernstige problem in die samelewing, waar mense steeds seksualiteit as sekulêr en verwydererd van die sfeer van spiritualiteit beskou. Die tradisionele en komtemporêre interpretasiebenaderings van Hooglied het vasgeval – geestelike interpretasies ignoreer die seksuele inhoud en seksuele interpretasies het geen teologiese betekenis nie. Hierdie navorsingsprojek verken die moontlikheid dat Hooglied gelees kan word as deel van die wysheidsliteratuur, en deur dit so te lees, lewer dit ‘n waardevolle bydrae tot die integrasie van seksualiteit en spiritualiteit. ‘n Lys van die eienskappe van wysheidsliteratuur is saamgestel deur die benaderings van prominente akademici, wat kenners van wysheidsliteratuur is, te ondersoek. Die lys bestaan uit drie hoofafdelings, naamlik: 1) algemene eienskappe; 2) literêre eienskappe; en 3) eienskappe van die inhoud. Die literêre eienskappe word verdeel in subkategorieë wat vorm, woordeskat, retoriek, en metafore verken. Die karaktereienskappe van inhoud word ondersoek in die tradisie van Salomo, onderwerp, kosmologie, antropologie, en kritiek. Agttien eienskappe is geïdentifiseer en in die vorm van vrae geformuleer aan die hand waarvan die teks van Hooglied ondersoek kan word. Die lys van die eienskappe van die wysheidsliteratuur is toegepas op Hooglied, en daar is bevind dat Hooglied wel die meeste van hierdie eienskappe vertoon. Daar is tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat dit aanvaarbaar is om Hooglied te lees as deel van die wysheidsliteratuur van die Bybel. Wanneer Hooglied gelees word as wysheidsliteratuur verskaf dit ‘n stabiele verwysingsraamwerk wat ekstreme interpretasies beperk, en dit voorsien ook ‘n waardevolle teologiese fokus. Wanneer geloofsgemeenskappe geleer word om Hooglied in die lig van die wysheidsliteratuur te lees en te verstaan, het ons die geleentheid om gelowiges te bemagtig om ‘n Godsbewuste seksualiteit te geniet, en om terselfdertyd ‘n sensuele spiritualiteit te beleef. | af |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11660/2225 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Allegory | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Dualism | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Characteristics of wisdom literature | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Eros | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Integration of sexuality and spirituality | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Sex | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Sexuality | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Spirituality | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Song of Songs | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Wisdom literature | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Dissertation (M.Th. (Old Testament))--Univeristy of the Free State, 2014 | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Bible. O.T. Song of Songs | en_ZA |
| dc.title | Reading Song of Songs as wisdom literature: an interpretive approach integrating sexuality and spirituality | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Dissertation | en_ZA |