Old Testament Bible Links

Song of Solomon Bibliography

This bibliography is a work in progress in which I will attempt to catalog and describe the enormous variety of versions, commentaries, and other sources touching on the Song of Songs.  Those items marked with a ¨ are in my personal collection.

Arintero, Father Juan G., O.P. The Song of Songs; A Mystical Exposition. Trans. James Valendar and Jose L. Morales. Rockford, IL; Tan Books, 1992.
The author, who lived from 1860-1928, takes a very mystical and allegorical view of the Song. ¨
Arminjon, Blaise, S.J. The Cantata of Love: A Verse-by-Verse Reading of the Song of Songs. Trans. Nelly Marons. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1983.
Catholic lyricist reading.
Astell, Ann W. The Song of Songs in the Middle Ages. Ithica; Cornell UP, 1990.
Traces the influence of the Song of Songs in various medieval literary works including Pearl, Richard Rolle, and the Miracle Plays.¨
Ayo, Nicholas.  Sacred Marriage: The Wisdom of the Song of Songs. New York: Continuum, 1997.
BS 1485.3.A86 1997 at SPST
Balchin, J. A. "The Song of Solomon." The New Bible Commentary: Revised 579-87.  3rd ed. Donald Guthrie et al. eds. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970.
Generally orthodox commentary.
Bloch, Ariel and Chana Bloch.  The Song of Songs with an Introduction and Commentary.  New York: Random House, 1995
The assumption of this edition is that it reflects songs of erotic experience.  The authors provide a translation along with the Hebrew text.  An afterward by Robert Alter is appended.The translators see the Song of Songs as a poem "about the sexual awakening of a young woman and her lover." Their introduction provides a general outline narrative on which to hang the poetry and points out the strong feminine point of view. The commentary provides justifications for their choices made whilst translating explaining why they might choose to add words not in the original or offer a less than literal rendering.  ¨
Brenner, Athalya, ed. A Feminist Companion to the Song of Songs. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993.
Title says it all.  BS 1485.2.F42 1993 at SPST.
Brenner, Athalya. The Song of Songs.  Sheffield: JSOT, 1989.
BS 1485.3.B7 1989 at SPST
Brody, Seth. Trans. Rabbi Ezra ben Solomon of Gerona: Commentary on the Song of Songs and other Kabbalistic Commentaries.  Kalamazoo: Western Michigan U, 1999.
Brody here renders what he says are the seminal works of the Kabbala, commenting on this Rabbi who died circa 1245.
Cannon, William W. The Song of Songs, Cambridge UP, 1913.
Noted by Fox as a dramatic critic.
Carr, Lloyd G. The Song of Solomon: An Introduction and Commentary. The Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1984.
Garden variety commentary.
Coates, C.A. An Outline of the Song of Songs. Kingston-on-Thames; Stow Hill Bible and Tract Depot.
This is a 218 page commentary. It allegorizes the book, with Christ as the lover.¨
Coutts, Francis. The Song of Songs: A Lyrical Folk-Play of the Ancient Hebrews Arranged in VII Scenes. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1906.
A dramatic rendering, three-character in nature.  Illustrations by Henry Ospovat.¨
Delitzsch, Franz. Commentary on the Song of Songs and  Ecclesiastes. Translated by M. G. Easton. Edinburgh: T. & T.Clark, 1877; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1970.
Delitzsch is the leading two-character dramatic theory proponent.  He does a nice job of overviewing the critics who preceded him.  Available at MBTS.
Dillow, Joseph C. Solomon on Sex. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1977.
Title says plenty.
Dorsey, David A.  "Literary Structuring in the Song of Songs," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 46 (1990): 81-96.
Dorsey focuses on the dramatic element of scene shift and the consistent pattern of the lovers (1) apart from one another, (2) yearning for one another, (3) united with one another. The threefold pattern is a motif found in each of the seven chiastic units of the book (A - 1:2-2:7; B - 2:8-17; C - 3:1-5; D - 3:6-5:1; C' - 5:2-7:10; B' - 7:11-8:4; A' - 8:5-14).
Elliott, Timothea.  The Literary Unity of the Canticle.  Peter Lang, 1989.
Title describes it.
Engammare, Max.  Le Cantique des contiques à la Renaissance: etude et bibliographie.  Geneva: Droz, 1993.
The Song of Songs in the Renaissance, a study and bibliography.
Ernst, Judith. Song of Songs; Erotic Love Poetry. Grand Rapids; Eerdmans, 2003.
Contains commentary and many rather crude looking paintings.¨
Exum, Cheryl.  “A Literary and Structural Analysis of the Song of Songs.” Zeitschrift fur die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 85 (1973): 47-79.
Article by a leading current scholar on the Song.
Falk, Marcia. Love Lyrics from the Bible: A Translation and Literary Study of the Song of Songs. Sheffield: The Almond Press, 1982.
A feminist translation and reading.  She breaks the work into thirty-one lyric poems.  This is followed by about 130 pages of "Translator's Study."¨
Falk, Marcia.  Song of Songs.  New York: Harper and Row, 1990.
Another feminist reading.
Flinker, Noam. The Song of Songs in English Renaissance Literature: Kisses of Their Mouths.  Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2000.
PR428.S48 F58 2000 at KU-W.
Forrest, William Mentzel. King or Shepherd? Boston; The Stratford Company, 1928.
Contains brief introduction. Presents Song as a five-act play. Three character.¨
Fox, M. V. The Song of Songs and the Ancient Egyptian Love Songs. Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1985.
An important and well argued book although prone to extreme conclusions.
Fuerst, W. J. The Song of Songs. Cambridge Bible Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975.
Commentary.
Ginsburg, Christian D. The Song of Songs and Coheleth. New York: KTAV Publishing House, 1970.
A work first published in 1857 and 1861.  BS 1483.G5 1970 at Rockhurst
Glickman, S. Craig.  A Song for Lovers.  Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1977.
Includes a foreword by Howard G. Hendricks, a new paraphrase, and a new translation of the text.  The first two thirds is taken up with an evangelical commentary.¨
Goodwin, T.A. Lovers Three Thousand Years Ago. Chicago: The Open Court, 1895.
Three character view, yet Solomon is more as a background character exerting forces on the other characters.  The Shulamite has entered the harem in Jerusalem, but her heart remains with her Shepherd-lover.  The tension that drives the drama in Goodwin’s eyes is that between the memory of the Shepherd and the persuasive forces brought to bear by the Daughters of Jerusalem, who are cast as senior wives within the harem.¨
Gordis, Robert. The Song of Songs and Lamentations; A Study, Modern Translation and Commentary. New York; KTAV Publishing, 1974.
Jewish commentary. Reviews various interpretive approaches. A rather ham-fistedly didactic opponent of the dramatic theory.¨
Goulder, Michael D. The Song of Fourteen Songs. JSOT, 1986.
Modernist. Despite the suggestion of the title, Goulder views the Song as a unified lyric.¨
Graves, Robert.  The Song of Songs.  New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1973.
Graves does his own translation of the text here and provides a lengthy and rather self-important commentary.  There are many drawings by Hans Erni.  The text is presented in dramatic form with speech tags.  It is divided into eight numbered sections.¨
Griffis, William Elliot.  The Lily Among Thorns: A Study of the Biblical Drama Entitled the Song of Songs. Boston: Houghton, 1890.
Nineteenth-century dramatic critic.
Hall, M.W. The Courtship of Jesus; A Study of Christ’s Church as His Bride. Marion, KY; M.W. Hall, 1965.
Baptist pastor interprets allegorically. The beloved is the church. ¨
Harper, Andrew. The Song of Solomon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1907.
Early twentieth-century critic.
Jastrow, Morris.  The Song of Songs:  Being a Collection of Love Lyrics of Ancient Palestine.  Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1921.
Jastrow picks up the modernist assumption of the edited nature of nearly all biblical books, a sense that he then applies to the Song.  He is particularly dismissive of the dramatic theory, applying nineteenth-century aesthetic norms to the drama of the Song.¨
Keel, Othmar.  The Song of Songs: A Continental Commentary. Trans. Frederick J. Gaiser. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994.
BS 1485.3 K4413 1994 at Naz
Landry, Francis. Paradoxes of Paradise: Identity and Differences in the Song of Songs. Sheffield: The Almond Press, 1983
BS 1485.3.L3 1983 at SPST
Landry, Francis. "The Song of Songs and the Garden of Eden." Journal of Biblical Literature  98 (1979): 53-58.
Article.
Lehrman, S. M. "The Song of Songs." In The Five Megilloth. London: Socino Press, 1946.
Chapter in larger work.
Mariaselvam, Abraham. The Song of Songs and Ancient Tamil Love Poems. Rome: Editrice Pontifico Istituto Biblico, 1988.
Very poetics oriented.  BS 1485.2.M33 1988 at SPST.
Matter, E. Ann.  The Voice of My Beloved: The Song of Songs in Western Medieval Christianity. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1990.
BS 1485.2.M38 1990 @ SPST
McPhee, L.M.  The Romance of the Ages:  Meditations on the Song of Songs.  Grand Rapids: Gospel Folio Press,
McPhee provides 107 meditations, most of them based on one or two verses.¨
Miller, Andrew.  Meditations on the Song of Solomon.  Addison, IL: Bible Truth Publishers, n.d.¨
Miller's work, originally published some time in the 19th century, takes the Song chapter by chapter.  Miller was a leading light among the brethren.
Munro, Jill M.  "Spikenard and Saffron: The Imagery of the Song of Songs." Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 203.  Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995.
Useful article.
Murphy, R. E. The Song of Songs. Hermeneia Commentary Series. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1990.
Commentary by the leading scholar on the Song today.
Murphy, “The Unity of the Song of Songs,” Vetus Testamentum 29 (1979): 436-43.
Article supporting title.
Murphy, Roland.  "Towards a Commentary on the Song of Songs."  Catholic Biblical Quarterly 39 (1977):  482-96.
Early article by leading critic.
Nee, Watchman.  Song of Songs. Trans. Elizabeth K. Mei and Daniel Smith. Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: Christian Literature Crusade, 1965.
Commentary by Chinese churchman.¨
Neighbour, R.E. The Song of Songs which Is Solomon’s. Cleveland: Union Gospel Press, 1927.
A simple tale of true love winning out over wealthy love, echoing a standard melodramatic conceit.  In Neighbour’s view, “Had Solomon offered all the substance of his house, he could not have won the Shulamite.”
Oliver, C.R.  Solomon’s Secret: A Commentary on the Song of Solomon.  Montgomery, Texas: Zadok, 1999.
This writer, who apparently served as a missionary in Brazil, takes a very allegorical approach to the Song.  He sees the Song as a two-character drama.¨
Patterson, John L.  The Song of Songs: Arranged Conjecturally as a Lyrical Drama. Louisville: Standard, 1932.
Describes the Song as a pastoral drama, but he emphasizes that this designation pertains to the extant form of the work, which, he asserts was created from a variety of cultic materials and folks songs
Pelletier, Anne-Marie.  Lectures Du Cantique des Cantiques. Analecta Biblica 121. Rome: Editrice Pontifico Istuto Biblico, 1989.
BS 1485.2.P45 1989 at Naz
Phillips, John.  Exploring the Song of Solomon.  Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1987.
This commentary sees the Song as an allegory with Christ as the shepherd.  He divides the book into a series of “Hours.”  Contains an in-depth outline.¨
Pope, Marvin H.  Song of Songs: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary.  The Anchor Bible 7C.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977.
This entry in the Anchor Bible series has the standard combination of immense erudition and generally modernist orientation.  Its bibliography is unparalleled up to that date. With the release of Marvin Pope's massive Anchor Bible commentary on the Song (Song of Songs, Doubleday, 1977), a rather perverse view of the book has been advanced. Pope regards the book as a liturgy from a fertility cult ritual or funeral feast, i.e., the sacred marriage to the gods reenacted cultically. He provides a plethora of obscene poems and pornographic graffiti from the Ancient Near East in support of this dubious thesis. In truth, one learns more about Professor Pope's fantasies than about the content of Solomon's inspired Song. ¨
Pouget, William, C.M and Jean Guitton.  The Canticle of Canticles.  Trans. Joseph L. Lilly, C.M. Declan X McMullen Co., 1948. 
A dramatic reading. BS1485.P63 at Rockhurst.
Rowley, H. H. "The Interpretation of the Song of Solomon." In The Servant of the Lord and Other Essays on the Old Testament. London: Lutterworth Press, 1952.
Article.
Schoff, Wilfred, ed. The Song of Songs: A Symposium. Philadelphia: Commercial Museum, 1924.
Deals with canonicity, Medieval history, Greek, Hindu, fertility cult influences and symbolism. BS 1485.Sch 625 @ SPST
Seerveld, Calvin. The Greatest Song. Amsterdam: Trinity Pennyasheet Press, 1967
Commentary
Shea, William.  “The Chiastic Structure of the Song of Songs.”  Zeitschrift fur die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 92 (1980): 378-96.
Modifies the conclusions of Exum to create a six-unit chiasmus of the Song.
Snaith, John G. The Song of Songs. New Century Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids; Eerdmans, 1993.
A scholarly commentary with significant bibliography.¨
Suarès, Carlo.  The Song of Songs: The Canonical Song of Solomon Deciphered According to the Original Code of the Qabala. Berkeley: Shambala, 1972.
Kabbala-oriented commentary.
Tryckare, Tre.  The Song of Solomon.  New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968.
This is a gift book.  It contains paintings by Ake Gustavsson on each page.  The text is from the King James Version.  The “author” who is actually just credited with the concept, has divided the text into eight chapters.¨
Walsh, Carey Ellen. Exquisite Desire: Religion, the Erotic, and the Song of Songs. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000.
BS 1485.6.E73 W35 2000 at SPST
Waterman, Leroy. The Song of Songs Translated and Interpreted as a Dramatic Poem. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1948.
BS 1487.W313 at SPST
Webster, Edwin C. “Pattern in the Song of Songs.”  Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 22 (1982): 73-93.
Reduces the book to a five-unit chiasmus.
Zlotowitz, Rabbi Meir, comp.  Shir haShirim.  New York: Mesorah, 1977.
This book, done in true Hebrew fashion from “back” to “front,” is described as “an allegorical translation based upon Rashi with a commentary anthologized from Talmudic, Midrashic, and Rabbinic sources.  The translation is by Rabbi Nosson Scherman.  Foreword by HaGaon HaRav Mordechai Gifter.¨