memecucker:

memecucker:

i read this really interesting paper on the emergence of Protestant interpretations of the bible and the introduction of biblical literalism as a theological doctrine and one of the big issues for that wasnt like Jesus’ parables or even the Book of Revelations because those come with big signposts saying “METAPHOR” but actually the Song of Songs. becuase where stuff like revelations can be understood to be as having a ‘face-value’ of being symbolic the same isnt necessarily true of the Song of Songs like if someone thats never read any anything in the Bible sat down with it they’d understand themselves to be reading an erotic poem theres no blatantly obvious things internal to the text saying its being symbolic and the reason its understood as such in Judaism and Christianity is because of external commentary by theologians. This was actually a legitimately frustrating problem in early Protestantism because it was a big deal for people like Calvin and Luther that the Bible should be read “literally” and not “allegorically” but under that criteria the Song of Songs is nothing other than an erotic poem it was actually one of most frustrating issues during the development of the Protestant canon and some people even wanted to remove it from the Bible because it only had any theological meaning if it was read non-literally and the only way an average reader would be aware of that is if they read external commentaries

anyway i found the paper its called “Reformation Attitudes toward Allegory and the Song of Songs” here’s a link i rec it if you think this theology stuff is interesting