Seminar At First Things Office on “Song of Songs”

First Things is pleased to host a seminar on Christian and Jewish exegesis of the Song of Songs featuring two distinguished scholars:

head of Bible Studies and Jewish Philosophy at Yeshiva University

and

Warren Professor of Theology at Duke University

and author of the Song of Songs volume of the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible

discussion moderated by

senior editor of First Things

Date: Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Time: Seminar 6:30-8:00 p.m. Wine and Cheese Reception to follow.

Place: First Things editorial offices, 35 East 21st Street, Sixth Floor, New York, NY 10010

The Song of Songs has a central role in Jewish as well as Christian self-understanding with respect to God’s relationship to his people. In Catholic theology, the post-conciliar emphasis on the nuptial relationship between God and the Church has given enhanced important to this biblical work. In Orthodox Judaism, the Song of Songs plays a central role in Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik’s account of the dialectic of love and fear in the relationship of God and the Jewish people. The degree to which Christian and Jewish accounts of the Song of Songs coincide and diverge in light of the heightened attention given to this work in the past several decades is not clear. We hope that this collaborative exercise in exegesis by two of the most qualified scholars in the field will provide new insight into the central role of this text.