This is an essay about feminist hermeneutics with regards to the Song of Song about which is said – by one of the key sources that I need to be included – that it is likely written by a king for his harem(!) . Ideally a high first-class essay would be the aim. I have included the sources that must be used and also some details from the instructors. I have included all the relevant .pdf’s apart from two which are over the 10mb limit (I indicate which these are by **). Please include more sources if you think they are valuable and you have any particular insights. The actual essay length is 2500, but can go up to 2625, including referencing but not the bibliography.
“Finding the female voice in Biblical Texts: The Song Of Songs – Love, Sex And Violence
An essential aspect of feminist hermeneutics is learning to find the female voice.
The Song of Songs makes a good case study. This is how we shall proceed:
1. Read the Song of Songs.
2. Pay particular attention to the female and to the male voices in the text (e.g. in chapter 2).
3. Consider the images used to describe the female body (e.g. in chapters 4 and 7).
4. Read 3:1-4; 5:2-8. What picture do these passages evoke? What is their function with
relation to the rest of the book?
Prescribed Texts: Song of Songs 2:1-17; 3:14; 4:1-8; 5:2-8; 7:1-7.”
J. Cheryl Exum, “Ten things every feminist should know about the Song of Songs,” in Feminist
Companion to Song of Songs, ed. A. Brenner, (Sheffield, 1993), pp. 24-35** – This whole book is easily found on b-ok.org or I can email it to you.
J. Cheryl Exum, “Femininist Crititcism. Whose interests are being served?”, in Judges and
Method: New Approaches in Biblical Studies, Gale A. Yee ed. (Fortress , 1985), pp. 65-89** – This one is 24mb approx, I can email it or send later when I figure how to compress it enough.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Essential are:
Cady Stanton, E., “The Song of Solomon”, in Feminist Companion to Song of Songs, ed. A.
Brenner, (Sheffield, 1993), pp. 55
On authorship:
Brenner, A., “Women Poets and Authors” in Feminist Companion to Song of Songs, ed. A.
Brenner, (Sheffield, 1993), pp. 86-97.
Goitein, S.D., “The Song of Songs: A female Composition”, in Feminist Companion to Song of
Songs, ed. A. Brenner, (Sheffield, 1993), pp. 58-66.
On imagery in Song of Songs:
Meyers, C., “Gender Imagery in the Song of Songs”, in Feminist Companion to Song of Songs,
ed. A. Brenner, (Sheffield, 1993), pp. 197-212.
Soulen, Richard N., “The wasfs of Song of Songs and the Hermeneutic,” Feminist Companion
to Song of Songs, ed. A. Brenner (Sheffield, 1993), pp. 214-257, pp. 214-257.
On intertextuality (and the relationship with Gen 1-3):
Trible, J. Ph., God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality (Philadelphia: Fortress , 1978) chapter 5.
On the “dark” side of Song of Songs:
Chave, P., “Towards a Not too Rosy Picture of the Song of Songs”, Feminist Theology 18 (1998), pp. 41-53.
Exum, J. Ch., “A Literary and Structural Analysis of the Song of Songs”. ZAW 85 (1973) pp. 47-79.
Landy, F., Paradoxes of Paradise. Identity and Difference in the Song of Songs. (Sheffield:
The Almond Press, 1983).
