Awakening to the love of God and to your union with Christ looks like something . . . - You have stability and peace even in the midst of incredible difficulty - There is authority in your prayers and laughter in your decrees - A deep bliss and unending satisfaction in your relationship with the Father An abiding fruitfulness in your life — others are drawn to your light and learn to discover that light for themselves The journey of the Shulammite in the great Song of Solomon is the journey of true awakening. The Song of the Ages is simply a guide through this eternal Song — one that leads the reader into this journey of awakening for themselves. There are mysteries and keys hidden within the ancient Song that unlock the freedom of our true identity. In this second part of The Song of the Ages, Nick Padovani continues to help the reader discover these things by bringing them through a majestic door of wisdom and revelation within the Song. Behind this door also lies a great mystery regarding the destiny of the church and the future of human civilization . . .

The Song of Songs is a fascinating text. Read as an allegory of God’s love for Israel, the Church, or individual believers, it became one of the most influential texts from the Bible. This volume includes twenty-three essays that cover the Song’s reception history from antiquity to the present. They illuminate the richness of this reception history, paying attention to diverse interpretations in commentaries, sermons, and other literature, as well as the Song’s impact on spirituality, theological and intellectual debates, and the arts.

Included among the sacred books of Judaism and Christianity alike, the Song of Songs does not mention God at all; on the surface it is a lyrical exchange between unnamed lovers who articulate the range of emotions associated with sexual love. Ann W. Astell here examines medieval reader response, both interpretive and imitative, to the Song. Disputing the common view that the literal meaning of Canticles had no value for medieval readers, Astell points to twelfth-century commentaries on the Song, as well as an array of Middle English works, as evidence that the Song's sensuous imagery played an essential part in its tropological appeal. Emphasizing the ways in which a complex fusion of the Song's carnal and spiritual meanings appealed rhetorically to a variety of audiences, Astell first considers interpretive responses to Canticles, contrasting Origen's dialectical exposition with the affective commentaries of the twelfth century—ecclesiastical, Marian, and mystical. According to Astell, these commentaries present Canticles as a marriage song that mirrors a series of analogous marriages, both within the individual and between human and divine persons. Astell describes interpretations of the Song of Songs in terms of the various feminine archetypes that the expositors emphasize—the Virgin, Mother, Hetaira, or Medium. She maintains that the commentat5ors encourage the auditor's identification with the figure of the Bride so as to evoke and direct the feminine, affective powers of the soul. Turning to literature influenced by the Song, she then discusses how the reading process is reinscribed in selected works in Middle English, including Richard Rolle's autobiographical writings, Pearl, religious love lyrics, and cycle dramas. The Song of Songs in the Middle Ages provides an innovative model of reader response that opens the way for a deeper understanding of the literary influence of biblical texts.

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.

Awakening to the love of God and to your union with Christ looks like something . . . You have stability and peace even in the midst of incredible difficulty There is authority in your prayers and laughter in your decrees A deep bliss and unending satisfaction in your relationship with the Father An abiding fruitfulness in your life -- others are drawn to your light and learn to discover that light for themselves The journey of the Shulammite in the great Song of Solomon is the journey of true awakening. The Song of the Ages is simply a guide through this eternal Song -- one that leads the reader into this journey of awakening for themselves. There are mysteries and keys hidden within the ancient Song that unlock the freedom of our true identity. In this second part of The Song of the Ages, Nick Padovani continues to help the reader discover these things by bringing them through a majestic door of wisdom and revelation within the Song. Behind this door also lies a great mystery regarding the destiny of the church and the future of human civilization . . .

This is a collection of twenty-nine of the most influential articles and papers about medieval musical instruments and their repertory. The authors discuss the construction of the instruments, their playing technique, the occasions for which they performed and their repertory. Taken as a whole, they paint a very broad, as well as detailed, picture of instrumental performance during the medieval period.