Song of Songs
Wisdom Commentary, Vol. 25
F. Scott Spencer
Liturgical Press, 2017
ISBN 9780814681244
Hardcover, 2017
9.1 X 6.1 X 1.3 inches | 1.4 pounds
Arguably the biggest blockbuster love song ever composed, the Song of Songs holds a unique place in Jewish and Christian canons as the "holiest" book, in the minds of some readers, and the sexiest in its language and imagery. This commentary aims to interpret this vibrant Song in a contemporary feminist key, informed by close linguistic-literary and social-cultural analysis. Though finding much in the Song to celebrate for women (and men) in their embodied, passionate lives, this work also exposes tensions, vulnerabilities, and inequities between the sexes and among society at large--just what we would expect of a perceptive, poignant love ballad that still tops the charts.
F. Scott Spencer is professor of New Testament and biblical interpretation at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He has also served as past president of the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion and current co-chair of the Bible and Emotion group for the Society of Biblical Literature. Spencer's longtime interest in feminist biblical interpretation is evident in the monographs Dancing Girls, "Loose" Ladies, and Women of "the Cloth" The Women in Jesus' Life; and Salty Wives, Spirited Mothers, and Savvy Widows: Capable Women of Purpose and Persistence in Luke's Gospel.
Barbara E. Reid, general editor of the Wisdom Commentary series, is a Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is the president of Catholic Theological Union and the first woman to hold the position. She has been a member of the CTU faculty since 1988 and also served as vice president and academic dean from 2009 to 2018. She holds a PhD in biblical studies from The Catholic University of America and was also president of the Catholic Biblical Association in 2014-2015.
