Job and the Song of Songs

These are books of impassioned dialogue and language that pushes the boundaries of intelligible religious speech. The book of Job does not treat God’s character or yield fresh thinking about theodicy. Rather, it is a book of wisdom theology (exploring the limits of human knowledge), of creation theology (considering the human place in the created order), and of mystical theology (exploring how character is transformed through suffering and, finally, through direct encounter with God). Options for interpreting the Song are now more contested than at any time since early in the Common Era. Origen’s approach is exemplary, with his lack of moralism and recognition of the Song’s poetics of relationality. Primarily through intertextual references, the Song uses the language of desire to evoke a longing that may include sexual desire and present ways to transcend it.