Divine Love in the Song of Songs

FAIRACRES PUBLICATIONS 220
The Song of Songs has exercised Jewish and Christian scholars for centuries, and will probably continue to do so. Its language and symbolism have fallen foul of modernist interpretations, particularly since the time of Freud. Sister Edmée, however, shows that understanding the Song, its place in the Biblical canon and how we read it today, is made possible by examining its history and the relationship of its language and content to the rest of the Bible and the New Testament. This examination also illuminates the way in which it was read and understood by those who were closest to its author.
Sister Edmée (1930–2018) trained as a ballet dancer and modelled for Vogue before, as she said, meaning finally entered her life when she became an Anglican and then joined the order of the Sisters of the Love of God in 1966. Her studies in the Convent led to two years learning Hebrew at Leo Baeck College and finally a DPhil, gained at the age of 73. Her dissertation was published as The Song of Songs and the Eros of God: A Study in Biblical Intertextuality (Oxford University Press, 2009).