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Sexuality and Devotion: Mystical Readings of the Song of Songs

This article considers the rich interpretative tradition that has grown out of the Song of Songs. Particular attention is given to the Targum on the Songs which identifies its narrative as an account of the marriage between God and Israel. Although the Targum post-dates the earliest Christian exegesis, the correlation made between the Bride and Israel is likely to have predated the text and influenced the first Christian interpreters.

Two influential commentaries on the Song, offered by Origen and Gregory of Nyssa, are then examined. Although there are significant differences between these, both preserve a sense of the correspondence between the motions and movements of the soul and the sense organs of the body. It is argued that this represents a positive embracing of sexual discourse as appropriate to describe the human approach to God. This movement is carried forward into contemporary spirituality via hymnody and popular devotion. The necessity to frame the spiritual language of desire in terms that transgress gender norms enables people of different sexual orientations to name their love of God through their physical passion.

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