- Title Pages
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- Abbreviations
- 1 An Introduction to Medieval Jewish Biblical Interpretation
- 2 The Search for Truth in Sacred Scripture: Jews, Christians, and the Authority to Interpret
- 3 The Tension between Literal Interpretation and Exegetical Freedom: Comparative Observations on Saadia's Method
- 4 Karaite Commentaries on the Song of Songs from Tenth-Century Jerusalem
- 5 Restoring the Narrative: Jewish and Christian Exegesis in the Twelfth Century
- 6 Rashbam as a “Literary” Exegete
- 7 Asceticism and Eroticism in Medieval Jewish Philosophical and Mystical Exegesis of the Song of Songs
- 8 Typology, Narrative, and History: Isaac ben Joseph ha-Kohen on the Book of Ruth
- 9 The Method of Doubts: Problematizing the Bible in Late Medieval Jewish Exegesis
- 10 Introducing Scripture: The <i>Accessus ad auctores</i> in Hebrew Exegetical Literature from the Thirteenth through the Fifteenth Centuries
- 11 On the Social Role of Biblical Interpretation: The Case of Proverbs 22:6
- 12 An Introduction to Medieval Christian Biblical Interpretation
- 13 The Letter of the Law: Carolingian Exegetes and the Old Testament
- 14 The Four “Senses” and Four Exegetes
- 15 Laudat sensum et significationem: Robert Grosseteste on the Four Senses of Scripture
- 16 Beryl Smalley, Thomas of Cantimpré, and the Performative Reading of Scripture: A Study in Two <i>Exempla</i>
- 17 The Theological Character of the Scholastic “Division of the Text” with Particular Reference to the Commentaries of Saint Thomas Aquinas
- 18 Thomas of Ireland and his <i>De tribus sensibus sacrae scripturae</i>
- 19 Material Swords and Literal Lights: The Status of Allegory in William of Ockham's <i>Breviloquium</i> on Papal Power
- 20 An Introduction to Medieval Interpretation of the Qurʼān
- 21 Discussion and Debate in Early Commentaries of the Qurʼān
- 22 Weaknesses in the Arguments for the Early Dating of Qurʼānic Commentary
- 23 The Scriptural “Senses” in Medieval Ṣūfī Qurʼān Exegesis
- 24 Are There Allegories in Ṣūfī Qurʼān Interpretation?
- 25 From the Sacred Mosque to the Remote Temple: Sūrat al-Isrāʼ between Text and Commentary
- 26 Qurʼānic Exegesis and History
- 27 The Self-Referentiality of the Qurʼān: Sura 3:7 as an Exegetical Challenge
- 28 The Designation of “Foreign” Languages in the Exegesis of the Qurʼān
- 29 The Genre Boundaries of Qurʼānic Commentary
- Subject Index
- Index to Citations from the Bible, Rabbinic Literature, and the Qurʼān
Asceticism and Eroticism in Medieval Jewish Philosophical and Mystical Exegesis of the Song of Songs
Asceticism and Eroticism in Medieval Jewish Philosophical and Mystical Exegesis of the Song of Songs
- Chapter:
- (p.92) 7 Asceticism and Eroticism in Medieval Jewish Philosophical and Mystical Exegesis of the Song of Songs
- Source:
- With Reverence for the Word
- Author(s):
Elliot R. Wolfson
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
The ascetic impulse manifested in pious devotion may be rooted in erotic desire, which is a recurring element in the phenomenology of religious experience. Matters pertaining to the sacred can be depicted erotically because there is a presumption with respect to the sacred nature of the erotic. In the medieval setting of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, this is enhanced by the common Platonic heritage according to which the intelligible realm is itself rendered in distinctively erotic language. The confluence of eroticism and asceticism is especially prevalent in the realm of mystical religious experience. A central (if not defining) feature of mysticism cultivated within theistic traditions is the experience of communion of the individual soul with the personal God. This chapter explores asceticism and eroticism in medieval Jewish philosophical and mystical exegesis of the Song of Songs. It discusses the allegorization of the erotic in medieval Jewish exegesis, the ecstatic and theosophic elements in kabbalistic allegoresis, the elevation of the Shekhinah and the transposition of gender, and spiritual eroticism and ascetic renunciation in kabbalistic readings of the Song.
Keywords: Song of Songs, asceticism, eroticism, mysticism, religious experience, medieval Jewish exegesis, allegorization, Shekhinah, gender
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- Title Pages
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- Abbreviations
- 1 An Introduction to Medieval Jewish Biblical Interpretation
- 2 The Search for Truth in Sacred Scripture: Jews, Christians, and the Authority to Interpret
- 3 The Tension between Literal Interpretation and Exegetical Freedom: Comparative Observations on Saadia's Method
- 4 Karaite Commentaries on the Song of Songs from Tenth-Century Jerusalem
- 5 Restoring the Narrative: Jewish and Christian Exegesis in the Twelfth Century
- 6 Rashbam as a “Literary” Exegete
- 7 Asceticism and Eroticism in Medieval Jewish Philosophical and Mystical Exegesis of the Song of Songs
- 8 Typology, Narrative, and History: Isaac ben Joseph ha-Kohen on the Book of Ruth
- 9 The Method of Doubts: Problematizing the Bible in Late Medieval Jewish Exegesis
- 10 Introducing Scripture: The <i>Accessus ad auctores</i> in Hebrew Exegetical Literature from the Thirteenth through the Fifteenth Centuries
- 11 On the Social Role of Biblical Interpretation: The Case of Proverbs 22:6
- 12 An Introduction to Medieval Christian Biblical Interpretation
- 13 The Letter of the Law: Carolingian Exegetes and the Old Testament
- 14 The Four “Senses” and Four Exegetes
- 15 Laudat sensum et significationem: Robert Grosseteste on the Four Senses of Scripture
- 16 Beryl Smalley, Thomas of Cantimpré, and the Performative Reading of Scripture: A Study in Two <i>Exempla</i>
- 17 The Theological Character of the Scholastic “Division of the Text” with Particular Reference to the Commentaries of Saint Thomas Aquinas
- 18 Thomas of Ireland and his <i>De tribus sensibus sacrae scripturae</i>
- 19 Material Swords and Literal Lights: The Status of Allegory in William of Ockham's <i>Breviloquium</i> on Papal Power
- 20 An Introduction to Medieval Interpretation of the Qurʼān
- 21 Discussion and Debate in Early Commentaries of the Qurʼān
- 22 Weaknesses in the Arguments for the Early Dating of Qurʼānic Commentary
- 23 The Scriptural “Senses” in Medieval Ṣūfī Qurʼān Exegesis
- 24 Are There Allegories in Ṣūfī Qurʼān Interpretation?
- 25 From the Sacred Mosque to the Remote Temple: Sūrat al-Isrāʼ between Text and Commentary
- 26 Qurʼānic Exegesis and History
- 27 The Self-Referentiality of the Qurʼān: Sura 3:7 as an Exegetical Challenge
- 28 The Designation of “Foreign” Languages in the Exegesis of the Qurʼān
- 29 The Genre Boundaries of Qurʼānic Commentary
- Subject Index
- Index to Citations from the Bible, Rabbinic Literature, and the Qurʼān
