Song of Solomon

10 Episodes

Song of Solomon is a post-exilic collection of erotic love poems preserved under Solomonic association rather than actual Solomonic authorship. Its place in the canon has long been debated precisely because its poetry is so insistently sensual, making it a key test case for how Jewish and Christian interpreters justified the holiness of texts that resist easy theological domestication.

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Why this book matters

Song of Solomon returns on the show because it forces interpreters to confront a biblical book that is plainly erotic and only secondarily made safe through allegory. The hosts use it to talk about late authorship, Solomonic attribution as a preservative label rather than a historical claim, and the way collections of poems could be gathered into a canonical book whose genre never stops creating discomfort for later readers.

It also becomes a recurring entry point for canon formation and reception history. Discussions of whether the book “defiles the hands,” of Rabbi Akiva’s defense of its holiness, and of Christian efforts to read it as Christ and the church all show how communities renegotiated the status of a text whose literal sense was often too erotic to leave uninterpreted.

Where to start

Start here for the strongest listening on Song of Solomon.

Quotes from the Data

“[Song of Songs] is definitely not written by Solomon. This is coming many centuries after the life of any historical Solomon who may have existed.”

Dan McClellan Episode 154

“This comes from much later, probably the Persian period, like 5th, early 4th century BCE, or the Hellenistic period, late 4th into the 3rd century BCE. So this is a post-exilic collection of poems.”

Dan McClellan Episode 154

“There were debates about whether or not the Song of Solomon was a text that defiled the hands, and that was basically a metaphor for [whether it] is considered inspired.”

Dan McClellan Episode 154

“The dominant way of interpreting the song [was] as representing the relationship of God to Israel.”

Dan McClellan Episode 154

All episodes

Every episode currently tagged with Song of Solomon.