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The Song of Songs

A Contemplative Guide

Graeme Watson

9780281066902
144 pages
SPCK Group
Overview
From its recorded beginning before Christ, this biblical poem was widely, and in fact exclusively, interpreted both by Jews and Christians as a hymn of God's passionate love for his chosen people. The Song of Songs is however a mysterious book, and the more modern reading of it as a celebration of human erotic love has largely displaced this older interpretation. Here, the author presents a contemporary mystical reading, with reference to some later Christian poetry, including John Donne, George Herbert and R. S. Thomas.
Author Bio
The Revd Graeme Watson is an Anglican priest involved in training men and women for ordained and lay ministries. A spiritual director, he leads poetry workshops, quiet days and retreats, and is an Hon. Asst Priest on the staff at St Mary Stoke Newington, London. He has written on George Herbert's mysticism for Theology, and on the apophatic tradition in the Anglican Church for The Way, and is the author of Strike the Cloud: Understanding and practising the teaching of The Cloud of Unknowing (SPCK, 2011).