In his literary corpus, Gregory the Great (+604) encapsulated the best of patristic theology and spirituality, bequeathing a rich legacy to generations of Christians who lived after him. Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in his exegesis of the Song of Songs. Gregorys interpretation of this popular Old Testament book not only owes much to Christian exegetes who preceded him, such as Origen, but also profoundly influenced later Western Latin exegetes of the Song, such as Bernard of Clairvaux. Gregory wrote a short commentary on the Song of Songs, and his voluminous writings are filled with interpretations of this biblical book. Later monastic writers combed through his corpus and compiled excerpts in which he interpreted passages from the Song of Songs. This volume includes translations of Gregory the Greats work Exposition on the Song of Songs, as well as the florilegia compiled by Paterius (Gregorys secretary) and the Venerable Bede, and, finally, William of Saint Thierrys Excerpts from the Books of Blessed Gregory on the Song of Songs. It is now the key resource for reading and studying Gregorys interpretation of the Song of Songs.

Gregory the Great was pope from 590 to 604, a time of great turmoil in Italy and in the western Roman Empire generally because of the barbarian invasions.Gregory s experience as prefect of the city of Rome and as apocrisarius of Pope Pelagius fitted him admirably for the new challenges of the papacy. "The Moral Reflections on the Book of Job" were first given to the monks who accompanied Gregory to the embassy in Constantinople. This first volume of the work contains books 1 5, accompanied by an introduction by Mark DelCogliano."

Taken together, Gregory of Nyssa’s XV Homilies In Canticum Canticorum are at the same time – as if in unison – a work of spiritual, exegetical, and theological doctrine. The wide spectrum of the themes present in them have prompted a great interest in this work, not only among scholars of patristics or theology, but also among those interested in biblical interpretation, ancient rhetoric or Christian mystical doctrine. These Proceedings present the results of the 13th International Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa (Rome, 17-20 September 2014): a systematic commentary of Gregory’s In Canticum from a broad perspective in the form of sixteen papers and a selection of fourteen short essays devoted to various issues that represent a valuable set of supporting studies.

In The Song of Songs in the Early Middle Ages, Hannah W. Matis examines how the Song of Songs, the collection of Hebrew love poetry, was understood in the Latin West as an allegory of Christ and the church. This reading of the biblical text was passed down via the patristic tradition, established by the Venerable Bede, and promoted by the chief architects of the Carolingian reform. Throughout the ninth century, the Song of Songs became a text that Carolingian churchmen used to think about the nature of Christ and to conceptualize their own roles and duties within the church. This study examines the many different ways that the Song of Songs was read within its early medieval historical context.

Gregory of Narek (c. 945-1003), a monk and a priest, is best know for his poetic works, and one of the few armenian commentators on the Song of Songs, which was so great a focus among western monastic writers of the patristic and medieval periods. Living during a period of cultural and religious renaissance which preceded the Turkish and Mongol invasions of Armenia, and in a period of conflict between the non-Chalcedonian Christians of his native land and their Byzantine neighbors, Grigor worked from the Armenian text of the Song, which is slightly longer than the Septuagint or Hebrew versions and contains passages which vary from them. In his commentary Grigor traces themes and draws on other scriptural books to remind readers that every human person is endowed with an innate love for God which, in his words, 'cannot be sapped'.