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The Song of Songs was the most commented upon biblical text in medieval Europe and became the cornerstone of the Western mystical tradition, but our knowledge of its use in Latin Christian communities before the time of Ambrose and Jerome is largely fragmentary. The thesis is a study of the use and interpretation of the Song in the Latin West during the period 250 – 380 CE, with a focus on the Tractatus de Epithalamio of Gregory of Elvira (c. 320-392), which is the earliest extant Song commentary composed in Latin. The research demonstrates that there was a robust tradition of Song exegesis in early Latin Christianity, although the mystical-affective interpretation that marks the later tradition is entirely absent. The poem is, rather, interpreted in an ecclesiological mode and is put in the service of communal selfdefinition. Gregory’s Tractatus, which I argue should be dated to 350-55, is a key source in recovering this largely lost tradition. The first part of the thesis traces in detail all of the citations of the Song in Latin Christian literature during the period in question, focusing on the writings of Cyprian of Carthage, Optatus of Milevis, Tyconius, Pacian of Barcelona, and Augustine. There emerge a cluster of passages from the Song that become key proof texts in ecclesiological controversies in North Africa and Spain. The second part engages problems in Gregorian scholarship, particularly issues pertaining to Gregory’s supposed direct knowledge and use of Origen’s writings. Scholars assert that his exegetical writings reflect the Origenist turn of the late fourth century. Using the tools of source criticism and theological analysis, I contest this hypothesis, demonstrating that the evidence of Origen’s influence has been greatly exaggerated and that the points of contact which do exist must be explained with reference to intermediary Latin sources. The third part sets the Tractatus de Epithalamio within its precise historical context and offers a close reading of the text, giving an account of its Christology, ecclesiology, and use of sources. The Tractatus, I argue, represents a ‘fusion’ of a distinctly Latin tradition of ecclesiological exegesis with a particularly Spanish mode of Christological reflection, which treats the enfleshment of the Word in the Incarnation and the embodiment of the risen Christ in the church as conceptually inseparable. Related historical problems, such as the chronology of Gregory’s career, are treated in appendices.

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Includes discography.

Thesis advisor: Stephen F. Brown / Among the varied representations of mystical ascent in the Middle Ages, perhaps none was as original as that of Thomas Gallus (d.1246), an abbot of the Canons Regular at St. Andrea in Vercelli and the so-called "last of the great Victorines." Drawing on the highly-esteemed works of Dionysius the Areopagite, Thomas exegeted the Song of Songs in terms of the soul's ascent to God through both knowledge and love. His differs from earlier Song commentaries because of its Dionysius-inspired contention that the human soul reflects the nine orders of the angelic hierarchy. Through apophatic contemplation and desire for God, the soul ascends through these orders until its intellectual knowledge fails, and it is granted a union of love with through its Seraphic order. However, Thomas, following Gregory the Great and Hugh of St. Victor, argues that love itself is a kind of knowledge, indeed, the highest kind of knowledge, the very "wisdom of Christians." To bridge the gap between the grades of knowledge and of love, and between the intellect and affect, Thomas introduces the notion of the simplification of the soul, an idea that has its roots in the Neoplatonism of Dionysius. Simplification may be defined as the principle by which multiplicity and compositeness are anagogically abandoned in favor of greater unity and simplicity through mystical ascent. It forms the guiding principle of Gallus's mystical thought, and is described in three highly interrelated ways. First, the intellect leaves behind its knowledge of God through sensibilia, sensible knowledge gained through the senses and imagination, in favor of purely invisible contemplative objects or theoriae, which it contemplates first in its own reason and intellect, and then ecstatically and unitively in themselves. Each progressively higher level of contemplation is simpler and contains those below it. Secondly, the affect abandons its lesser desires for temporal and spiritual goods, and instead focuses its desire on the Good, which is the wellspring of all lower goods. Finally, and foundationally, simplification describes the movements of the powers of the soul, which unite as they ascend, increasingly reflecting the divine simplicity. This culminates with the affect's union with God, which undividedly contains within itself all lower forms of knowledge and love. When this fleeting union with God ends, the soul descends, becoming multiplex again, but it carries with it an inflow of graces, both intellectual and affectual, which are distributed to each order of its hierarchy "according to the capacity of each". This refreshment allows for future ascent. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

The thesis presents one approach to reading the Song of Songs as a unified composition. The first chapter examines the various arguments for unity and disunity that have been put forth in the history of the Song's interpretation. Although no definitive structure based on patterns of repetition seems possible in the Song, the chapter argues that the complex web of repetition in the text points to a unified composition. The second chapter explores the possibility of a regulating structure based on the interaction of voices in the Song. After outlining the various genres evident in the Song, as well as the speaker-addressee relationships within these genres, the chapter argues that such a regulating structure is to be found in the Song's unified discourse setting. This discourse setting consists of two lovers who interact with the Daughters of Jerusalem. The third chapter examines some of the implications of such a unified discourse setting for the interpretation of the Song. The chapter suggests that while the discourse setting is consistent throughout the work, two distinct fictive realms are apparent within the text: one fictive realm deals with the escapades of two lovers; a second fictive realm presents the endeavors of Solomon. The chapter argues for an explanatory relationship between the block of material pertaining to Solomon and the discourse setting of the work. The block of material pertaining to Solomon, because it features the Daughters of Jerusalem as characters, has particular relevance for the Daughters as they reside in the discourse setting of the work. The chapter also argues for a thematic relationship between the stories about Solomon and the narratives and lyrics which deal with the two lovers. The love poetry serves to mold the reader's evaluation of particular images which recur within the Solomonic material. The discourse setting and the two distinct fictive realms work together to convey a negative evaluation of Solomon's treatment of the Israelites, represented metaphorically as the Daughters of Jerusalem within the Song. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

This thesis explores the question of how the figure of Solomon is characterized in the Hebrew Bible. This question arises from the observation of divergent depictions of Solomon in the different books. In 1 Kings 1–11, Solomon is depicted in an ambivalent manner where his wisdom can be used positively for the benefit of all Israel and negatively through focusing on the royal court to the neglect of Israel at large. In contrast, Solomon is presented as a model king of cultic fidelity in 2 Chronicles 1–9 in spite of his failures in 1 Kings 1–11. In Proverbs, Solomon is remembered as the paragon of wisdom in Israel but is also presented in Ecclesiastes as a pessimistic king describing the limitations of his wisdom. Furthermore, Solomon is used as the picture of an ideal lover in the Song of Songs, but it is his romantic exploits that lead to him becoming an idolater turning away from YHWH. In light of these observations, the purpose of this thesis is to examine the characterization of Solomon in 1 Kings 1–11, 2 Chronicles 1–9, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. In order to examine this, a communicative theory of interpretation that benefits from a theory of characterization from narrative-criticism will be utilized. This hermeneutical tool will help establish the integrity of individual books as acts of communication and demonstrate how characterization is a literary technique utilized by authors to depict a character to be imagined by readers. The finding of this thesis is that Solomon’s characterization is well beyond a single attribute as a wise king or even a two-fold attribute as wise king and temple builder. Instead, he is a paradoxical and ambiguous figure that integrates positive and negative features emerging both from the individual accounts and from the relation of these accounts to one another. The accounts associated with describing Solomon’s reign or those books that have a poetic association share significant themes, but these themes are reframed and re-interpreted as a part of an enduring legacy. By re-evaluating the depiction of Solomon in individual parts or wholes of books, as well as considering the unique contributions of the individual accounts in relation to one another, this thesis demonstrates that the figure of Solomon generates ever fresh elaborations.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Accompanied by 2 recitals, recorded Feb. 11, 2008, and Oct. 7, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 141-143).

In dominant seventeenth-century thinking women's bodies, minds, and spirits were not only inferior to men's, but also more prone to evil. This study explores the ways in which the women writers attempted to redefine these assumptions. Through an analysis organised along various spiritual transformations the writers claim to go through, the study presents an insight into seventeenth-century women's construction and redefinition of femininity. The symbolic process of women's spiritual transfiguration results in them identifying with the metaphorical figure of Zion and in positioning women as godly agents of God, whereas male writers' transformations eventuate in their being effeminized and being turned into 'Crooked Agents' of God. Therefore, the study shows how the potentials inherent in the biblical figure of Zion were used in establishing a connection with God and in forming female and male authorial identity. The thesis draws on the understudied voices of women such as the anonymous Eliza, Elizabeth Major, An Collins or Gertrude More, and is contextualized by male-authored texts, some of them considered as canonical and popular in contemporary literature.

Orientador: Luiz Gonzaga Marchezan / Banca: Enivalda Nunes e Freitas / Banca: Fábio Rigatto de S. Andrade / Banca: Maria de Lourdes Ortiz Gandini / Banca: Arnaldo Cortina / Resumo: Este trabalho é uma visada interpretativa sobre o romance Lavoura arcaica, do escritor paulista Raduan Nassar, uma leitura que parte de conceitos centrais desenvolvidos pelo chamado Círculo de Bakhtin, como dialogismo, gêneros discursivos, cronotopo e polifonia, para pensar a tessitura verbal do romance em toda a sua complexidade. Nossa hipótese é que vigas/vozes mestras da arquitetônica do romance ressoam dialogicamente a poesia do Cântico dos Cânticos - jardim metafórico que exala erotismo no coração das Escrituras - e a sintaxe enrijecida da lei (em)pregada nos Provérbios. Os discursos bíblicos, das tradições mediterrâneas, que foram paulatinamente edulcorados, submetidos aos posicionamentos ideológicos dos mais velhos, transformados em tábua de lei, tornam-se, em Lavoura arcaica, palco de luta. A apropriação que os personagens tentam fazer dessas palavras "para seu uso próprio" faz surgir entre eles relações dialógicas. A palavra passa a ter dupla orientação - uma direcionada para o objeto do discurso (um tema, uma ordem, um mandamento), outra para o discurso do outro; os tensos diálogos entre Pedro e André e deste com seu pai bem o confirmam. Reafirmamos que queremos investigar em profundidade como esse tensionamento se faz projetar em todas as camadas do discurso (lexical, sintática, sonora, imagética), visto que em Lavoura arcaica os discursos interpenetram-se, chocam-se, fundemse, polemizam entre si, criando por vezes a imagem de um remoinho, que é a vertigem mesma do sujeito-narrador (André) - seu purgatório em vida. A progressão de nossa análise revelou que a própria literatura sapiencial bíblica sofre uma espécie de crise na voz dos redatores de livros como Jó e Qohélet, colocando em xeque a teoria da retribuição preconizada em Provérbios e nos discursos de Iohána, o que permitiu uma reflexão, que fecha a análise, sobre a forma... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This work aims at interpreting the novel Lavoura arcaica , written by the Paulista author Raduan Nassar and is a project which makes use of key concepts such as Dialogism, Discourse genres, Chronotype and Polyphony developed by what is known as the Bakhtin Circle to consider the verbal texture of the novel in all its complexity. Our hypothesis is that master beams/voices of the architeture of the romance drum dialogically the poetry of The Song of Songs - metaphoric garden that reeks erotism in the center of the scriptures - and the hardened syntax of the law used in The Book of Proverbs. The Biblical discourses, of the Mediterranean traditions, which were gradually sweetened, submitted to the ideological positioning of the elderly ones, transforming into a table of the law, making Lavoura arcaica a stage of battles. The ownership that characters attempt to make of these words "for their own use" elicits dialogical relations between them. The word becomes doubly oriented - oriented to the object of the discourse (a theme, an order, a commandment), and also oriented to the discourse of others; the conflicted dialogs between Pedro and André and from this one with his father attests it. We ratify that we want to deeply investigate how this tensioning is projected in all the layers of the discourse (lexical, synthatic, sonorous, imagetic), once that in Lavoura arcaica different discourses interpenetrate, conflict, polemize and merge with each other, criating several times the image of a swirling pinwheel, which is the same disorder of the narrator-subject (André) - his purgatory in life. The progress of our analysis revealed that the Biblical sapiential literature itself suffers from a kind of crisis in the voice of the editors of the books like Job and Qohélet, jeopardizing the theory of retribution preconized in The Book of Proverbs and in the discourses of Iohána... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

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