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The Song Of Songs
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The Song of Songs CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 Canonicity 1 Authorship and Dating 2 INTERPRETATION 4 Allegorical 4 Literal 5 Wedding Cycle 5 Pastoral Drama 6 CONCLUSION 6 INTRODUCTION The Song of Songs, or Song of Solomon, is a unique book in the Old Testament canon. The book contains exquisitely beautiful lyric poetry, full of sensuous symbolism. Because of the sexual nature of Song of Songs, the message of this book has been debated for the past eighteen-hundred years. The erotic content of this book has lead it into canonicity problems and authorship problems. These issues have become central to the interpretation of the Song of Songs. Canonicity The issue of the canonicity of Song of Songs was a major subject of debate at the 90 A.D. Council of Jamnia. Jewish Rabbis from across the spectrum of Judaism assembled in order to close in Jewish Canon. At that time, many rabbis who opposed the Song of Songs and other works toke the opportunity to argue against their inclusion in Jewish Canon. It was the Palestinian rabbinical school of Shammai that stood in the fore of the opposition for canonization of Song of Songs. They argued that nothing could be considered scripture that was being employed in lewd, barroom songs. Fortunately the cause of Song of Songs was championed by the less stringent Babylonian rabbinical school of Hillel. "The entire universe is not as worthy as the day o...
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