The Song of Songs, embarrassing to many of us and neglected by most of us, is either an allegory of spiritual things, or an in-your-face sex-manual, or so various parties insist. This paper (and a shorter article) by Barry Wilkins takes a different view entirely, arguing from consideration of context and the Reformation slogan ‘Christ in All the Scriptures’, that Song is both a celebration of the intimacy of ideal human love and a typological anticipation of the love celebrated between Christ and his bride, the church, without being either allegorical or lurid.
The Song of Songs in ‘Whole Bible’ Context (300kB pdf)
Short article (100kB pdf)