Song of Song’s: A Husband’s Commentary

At last, we see a commentary on the Song of Songs written by a married man. America Magazine has published Sexuality, Spirituality and the ‘Song of Songs’ by Christopher Pramuk. (Available on the web to subscribers only, but I can email you a copy without breaking copyright.)
After giving an account of the books mystical interpretation by celibates, Pramuk writes;

Without diminishing the riches that have been gathered from allegorical readings of the Song of Songs, one may still insist on the value of a more literal reading for Christians today. As at least one monk of ancient days (the wily Jovinian) seemed to understand, the Christian has less to fear and much more to celebrate in the God-given mystery of human sex, rightly and reverently embraced. Surely the marriage bed may be one of the best-kept secrets in the sacramental life of the church, to be ranked among the church’s most sacred objects. Before recoiling from this perhaps surprising statement and draining its force with a thousand qualifications, we ought to think about the thousands of millions of hidden saints who discover some part of their own stumbling sanctity on the bed of marriage.

and concludes

The woman and man who delight in each other, though fragile and hidden in the general cosmic dance, lie together in the margins and shine like a silver moon in a dark night sky, their whole being echoing the sublime refrain of the Song of Songs: “Deep waters cannot quench love, nor floods sweep it away.”
Only through the body does the way, the ascent to the life of blessedness, lie open to us._— St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs

Thanks to the editors at America. I wonder if the Vatican knew what they were getting when they pressed for Thomas Reese's dismissal as editor.

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