RG ST132A

Explores the allegorical and symbolic interpretations of the biblical love poem known as the Song of Songs in the Jewish and Christian traditions from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Topics to be discussed include the Song in its literary and historical context, the interplay of the sacred and the erotic in religious experience, allegory and the sacralization of the erotic, Marian interpretations and the ascetic curbing of desire, and the contemplative and ectastic interpretations of medieval kabbalists.