Song of Solomon
Psalm 45:1-2, 6-9 (Year B August 28-September 3) is part of a royal wedding psalm. The psalm is the only example of a profane lyric in the Psalter. The occasion is the marriage of a young king to a woman of Tyre. One might think of Ahab, especially considering his youth in his marriage to Jezebel, who was from Tyre. Others have suggested Jehu, Jeroboam II, Solomon, and Jehoram of Judah. The psalm breathes the spirit of the festive joy of the wedding ceremony. It shares with other royal psalms an affirmation of the might and justice of the king and concludes by saying the nations shall praise him. Part of the superscription, according to Lilies, is a term applied in the Song of Songs in an erotic context, while describing it as a love song also makes that connection. It begins by the poet promoting himself, affirm that his heart overflows with a goodly theme, addressing his words to the king, and his tongue being like the pet of a scribe. He then praises the virtue and beauty of the king, beauty being a royal attribute, with God also pouring grace upon the lips of the king and God blessing him forever. After describing the king as chivalrous in defending the cause of truth and right and having the divine attributes of splendor and glory, the poet abruptly turns toward the throne of God, whose throne endures forever. Another legitimate translation would be affirming that the divine throne of the king is everlasting, referring to the king as divine, an idea that is present in surrounding cultures but unique in the Bible. The rule of the king has equity, as the king loves righteousness and hates wickedness. The failure of the kings to live up to those standards receives consistent condemnation in the Old Testament. The prosperity of the king will flow from his righteousness. God has anointed him with the oil of gladness, his robes fragrant with the anointing oils. His queen (Shegal is a rare Akkadian loanword for a consort rather than queen) stands at his right hand. He describes the pomp and ceremony of the wedding. This unnamed king, on this unnamed occasion is basking in all the finer things in life. It would be wrong to denigrate the desire and the acquiring of the finer finite pleasures of life. Learning to enjoy properly such pleasures is a matter of our discipleship as well. To refuse to ourselves such enjoyment is to express little gratitude for the blessing God has brought our way. Yet even this poet helps us keep matters in perspective by focusing upon equity and righteousness in a ruler.
The Son of Solomon makes its only appearance in the lectionary here. I begin with an introduction to the book.
We can assume that the Song of Songs, making the bold claim that it is a uniquely sublime song, acknowledging that it is a collection of songs, or the Song of Solomon, an honorary attribution of authorship of a text of which the author remains unknown, comes from the early period of sacral kingship.[1] In the Jewish Bible, it is part of the section designated as the writings (Kethuvim), occurring after the five large books of Psalms, Proverbs, and Job, the next five books designated as the five scrolls, of which the Song of Songs is a part.
The book is the only extensive reflection on human, erotic love in the Bible. It consists of a series of poems in which the speech of two lovers is interspersed with occasional comments by other voices. The lovers describe themselves and each other, as well as their feelings of love, desire, and longing. The woman has the largest part and is the more articulate of the two. Her experiences, feelings, and perceptions are central to the content of the book. If one is looking for a female author of a book in the Bible, this would be a strong candidate.
The book is a poem, using techniques like wordplay, pun and sound-play, repetition, simile, metaphor, and double entendre to highlight the relationship the two lovers. The most satisfying theory of the setting is that it is a collection of poems about human love, some of which were used in wedding celebrations. Such a book might have made into the canon because of the prophetic use of the human love relationship as a metaphor for the Yahweh-Israel relationship in prophetic literature, as in Isaiah 54:4-8, Jeremiah 2:1-2, Ezekiel 16 and 23, and Hosea 1-3. However, these secular love songs may have worked themselves into the canon simply because they occupied a prominent place in the culture of ancient Israel.
After working through the book one last time, I would be prepared to say that one of the marriages of Solomon, his marriage to Egyptian royalty being a viable candidate, is the proper setting of the song. We see this in the oldest part of this book, 3:9-11, which describes the palanquin Solomon made. However, this does not mean the entire book was composed for this occasion. Rather, the book skillfully weaves several wedding banquet songs, which were undoubtedly sung playfully to those getting married. It also incorporates serious aspects of the wedding service, which we see in the declarations of mutual devotion. The Sumerians had similar love poems, Dumuzi and Inanna being one and Set Me Free, My Sister is another. The instinct that the text concerns romantic love and the divine reflection of that love is an important one. The Song is an ode to erotic love that describes what could have been and can be again. The references to vineyards and gardens may refer to the Garden of Eden. That story did not end happily. It ended with alienation and separation. This Song suggests restoration of the intimacy that existed there, between man and woman and between humanity and God. With the images of nature, it invites us to consider restoration of the relationship with nature. However, we need to understand the text in the context of the Palestinian love songs that were popular at the time. This poem expresses the love between two persons, giving some freedom to understand that God created sexual desires, passion, and romance, while at the same time expressing the elusiveness of love, the blessedness of beauty, the importance of devotion, and that love is lasting until death. This book is one of two books in the Bible that never mentions God, along with Esther, and this is the only unmediated female voice in Scripture. There is a theme of elusiveness of the woman and the man, that she is a virgin, and the physical and sensual. Rabbi Aquiba: "For in all the world there is nothing equal the day which the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all the writings are holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies." Rabbi Judah: it "defiles the hands." Rabbi Jose: the book is disputed. Rabbi Aquiba: "He who trills his voice in chanting the Song of Songs in the banquet house and treats it as a sort of song has no part in the world to come." It was used in secular settings. The Song of Solomon is a scandal because of its erotic subject matter. Several passages in the Song (e.g., 1:6-8; 3:1-4; 5:2-7; etc.) reinforce the conclusion that the young people are not married and that this may, in fact, be the circumstance that has given rise to the Song in the first place, with its frequent references to yearning and frustrated desire. What the impediments to marriage are for this couple remains speculative. (Do they come from different sides of the tracks? Cf. 1:5-6. Is she too young to marry? Cf. 8:8-10. We simply do not know.)
Some critics have argued that the Song’s humanistic viewpoint represents an Israelite poet’s self-conscious attempt to “demythologize” ancient Near Eastern concepts of sacred sexuality. Such views find expression in fertility rites of sympathetic magic. Yet, the broader vision sketched in Genesis 1–2 calls into question the notion that male-female sexual relationships were thereby completely desacralized, secularized, or set loose from constraints of moral decision making. Neither in the Song nor elsewhere in Scripture is human sexual love celebrated as “its own legitimation.” It is to be diligently sought after and treasured when found, because it is a vital part of God’s gracious design for human life; it is a “good” gift to be enjoyed and yet, like others, capable of being twisted by human perversity. This means that we might discern a framework for human sexuality. Sex is a moral good in Genesis 1. Love makes better sex. Erotic love makes sex steamy and that is good. This means that the Song is about human sexual fulfillment, fervently sought and consummated in reciprocal love between woman and man, considered “literally” or in its theologically relevant meaning.[2]
Barth prefers this approach to the Song of Songs. He refers to the close connection between God and eros. This Song stands as a long description of the rapture, the unquenchable yearning and the restless willingness and readiness, with which both partners in the covenant hasten towards an encounter. With this covenant in view, man and woman must hasten toward an encounter despite any hindrance and restriction. He wonders where they found the courage to treat of the matter in this way, speaking so bluntly of eros and not being content merely with the restrained references to marriage and posterity. The rest of the literature of Solomon has no illusion regarding the true situation between man and woman. The author of this love song had in mind another covenant, stained and spotted, almost unrecognizable unhistorical reality, and yet concluded, sealed, persisting and valid. The existence of this covenant inescapably compelled them to present in a supremely positive light the sphere of the relationship of the sexes even on its dangerous and corrupted aspect. He stresses that in this story, the broken covenant is still unbroken and intact on both sides. The Song says that brokenness of the covenant is not the whole story. It has its frontiers in a vastly different beginning and end, where Yahweh and the people are together and are one flesh. The vision of the incomprehensible nearness, intimacy, and sweetness of the relationship between Yahweh and Israel can then actually break through the caution, the care, the legitimate severity and anxiety, which otherwise cause them to speak so non-erotically of the erotic. They must speak out freely. Love between man and woman become a parable and sign of the link that Yahweh has established between God and the people of God, which in divine faithfulness God has determined to keep and renew. Therefore, they see even this most dangerous sphere of human existence in its old and new glory.[3] Yet, Barth also says that we have here a collection of genuine love-songs in the primitive sense, in which there is no reference to the child, but only to man and woman in their differentiation and connection, in their being in encounter. At this point, the most natural exegesis might well prove to be the most profound. We find the voice of woman clearly in this passage.[4]
Phyllis Trible has written the modern commentary on the Song of Solomon.[5] Entitled “A Love Story Gone Awry” she suggests that the garden imagery in the Song of Solomon is the re-creation of the garden of Eden before the fall. It is an ode to erotic love that describes what could have been and can be again. She reminds us of the suspicion — even hostility — that the church has given to this love poetry.
Trible does a skillful comparison between the Garden of Eden and this re-created garden of Eros described in the Wisdom literature. In the Garden of Eden, we find sexuality entangled with guilt and judgment and shameful nudity. In the Song of Solomon, we find love woven with play and imagination and delight — a nudity that is both exalted and desired. And there is no guilt found anywhere. In Genesis we find pain in childbirth, unequal power between the lovers, and a suggestion that adult love demands leaving one’s father and one’s mother. But in the Garden of Eros, childbirth is eagerly anticipated, the Rose of Sharon invites her beloved into her mother’s chamber for the consummation of their love, and their relationship is a rich mutuality of power and passion.[6]
The Song is an ode to erotic love that describes what could have been and can be again. The passionate longings of its characters give us important insights into the nature of human desire and the nature of God's desire for us. The Song does not mention the name of God, a characteristic it shares with Esther. Yet, as part of the canon, we as readers find hints of the divine. God does not simply tolerate us - weak and fallible creatures that we are. Instead, God has a passion for each one of us and a hunger to be intimately involved with us. The references to vineyards and gardens in the Song may refer to the Garden of Eden. That story did not end happily. It ended with alienation and separation. This Song suggests restoration of the intimacy that existed there, between man and woman and between humanity and God.[7]
The attempt to turn this little book into an allegory of the relationship between the people of the Lord and the Lord fails for lack of evidence within the book. Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan is a good example of how an allegory is not subtle. Nothing in the book suggests that when it speaks of the kiss between these two lovers it is referring to anything other than their passionate kiss. The allegorical approach arose with the rise of a form of Platonism that suggested one could nourish the life of the soul only if one ignored or suppressed the desires of the body. In some ways, the Freudian openness regarding sexuality allows us to see the honesty regarding romantic love contained in this book better than the ancient church. We are ensouled bodies (Barth), and thus are not whole persons if we ignore either aspect of who we are. The intimate relationship between man and woman is a gift of creation. God has an interest in us as whole persons. Granting that the relationship between Adam and Eve in both its intimacy and its alienation is the story of every male and female relationship, then the poetry of the Songs of Songs reflects the redemption of intimacy and sexuality. The couple is naked in the garden and enjoying each other fully and thoroughly. The book contains a celebration of sexuality and caution regarding it.
I invite you to reflect upon the discipleship dimension of our enjoyment of the pleasures of this life. The text properly focuses upon sexuality. Most of the Bible seems content to refer to sex either with prohibitions or with the restrained references to marriage and posterity. The church hesitates to talk about sexual love. We are rightfully modest about these matters. Such things are private and reserved for the intimate relationship between couples. Yet, our society forces us to think about sexual matters in an increasingly public way. Since the beginning of the 20th century, our culture has compulsively talked more about sex than it has anything else. We have become so preoccupied with sex, and yet, derive so little meaning, happiness, and fun from having it. Yet, the Song of Solomon revels in the “more” of romantic, sensual love. This fact could be a doorway for us as followers of Jesus to enjoy not only sexual pleasure, but also other pleasures of this life that may come our way as well. To state the obvious, we ought not to derive our meaning and purpose from finite pleasures. Of course, one could become addicted to any of these pleasures. Any designed pleasure can become a path to self-destruction. Such is the power of sin. The advice contrasts sharply with Numbers 15:39, commanding the people not to follow their own heart and eyes, which are inclined to go after what is wrong. Yet, the danger ought not to keep us from genuine enjoyment. Such reminders represent the modesty we need to have regarding our desires. However, we would hardly be disciples who have learned to express gratitude if we did not enjoy the pleasures of this life. It seems quite right to offer to the Lord the right-minded desires of our hearts (Psalm 20:4). The Lord withholds no good thing from those who live rightly (Psalm 84:11). The fulfillment of the desires of the heart becomes a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12). A realized desire is sweet to the soul (Proverbs 13:19). Rightly ordered desire ends only in good (Proverbs 11:23). God will grant rightly ordered desire (Proverbs 10:24). The author of Ecclesiastes urges the young to enjoy themselves, letting their hearts lead them, following the desires of their hearts and the glances of their eyes. The author does suggest that while a young person fulfills the desire of the heart and follow what attracts the eyes, one needs to bear in mind that God will hold the young accountable for how one does that. Yet, the fleeting quality of youth, the reality that nothingness is the end, leads this author to advise youth to seize the day for what enjoyment it can give, for there will be plenty of days of pain and sorrow. Of course, the rightly ordered desire of our hearts do not always find fulfillment. Such experiences are part of the suffering and struggle of this life. Even then, our desire may well have dictated certain courses of action that proved their worth. Sexual desire, rightly ordered, leads to an encounter that a man and a woman have the privilege of enjoying. My suggestion is that if that is true, then other desires of our hearts are also important to God. If we have some good fortune, we may find that desire fulfilled as well.
Sensuality and the dual reproductive apparatus provide for new human beings in succession. Inescapably, the vagina and the penis are made for each other. Sexuality is this coincidence of sensuality and male-female differentiation. The union that occurs is not an impersonal event, but an event in which we captivate each other and become bodily present to the other. Sexuality rescues the human communal character from being a mere ideal. We have no choice but to be fellow-human, and this receives emphasis in that we cannot say “human” without saying man and woman. The woman is for this man, and the man is for this woman, which is the eminent and decisive fellow-human moment. This difference is the only structural difference between human beings, for all other distinctions are human creations. One may hate the shape of one’s body, but maleness or femaleness are not the product of malleable or contingent psychology or social construction. Such givenness of our maleness or femaleness does not allow us to shirk the responsibility of embracing the task and opportunity of being the man or woman whom God has called us to be.[8] A consequence of this sexual reality is that the family is the essential institution of any community. The laws that regulate sexuality, that stipulate what constitutes a family and enforce its integrity, are a condition of all other law-making. Laws regarding sexuality are the reality test of law, for the future of society is at stake. Since the stability of satisfying sexual desire encourages cultural stability, sexual anarchy will lead to rule by arbitrary force, for it brings with it the weakening of the home. A second consequence of sexuality is its humanizing rule. Intercourse is a gesture toward another, a promise of shared life, as one body engulfs another and that body enters another, abolishing the distance between the two. Intercourse is something less than this type of communication, for sin touches it as well. A final consequence of this view of sexuality is that a society will do all it can to encourage heterosexual monogamy. A form of serial polygamy occurs as divorce legislation liberalizes. [9]
The Song of Solomon itself is a reminder of the power of sexual desire.[10] As part of a sacred text, it points to both romantic love and the divine reflection of that love.
First, the Song reminds us that sex is good and is a gift of God. At the same time, the collection of songs expresses the elusiveness of love, the blessedness of beauty, the importance of devotion, and that love is lasting until death. This text reminds us that sexuality for us is not simply a biological urge to merge. It represents so much more than that. This text celebrates romantic love. God created us with sexual desire, including passion and romance. The story communicates the elusiveness of romantic love. Sexual love is desire, and as such, it will not bring fulfillment into our lives. I grant that in romance novels people speak of romantic love as if it brings union with another human being. The quest for oneness with another human being always ends with the awareness that you are still two persons who must work out the complexities of a relationship. As important as romance may be to us, we recognize at some level that we need more than romance. True lovers seek to bring pleasure to the other person. Yet, too often, our expression of sexual desire is little more than getting the other to meet our needs. In the Song of Solomon, we find love woven with play, imagination, and delight — a nudity that it both exalted and desired. Moreover, there is no guilt found anywhere regarding the body or sexual desire. Considering this song invites us to consider the good gift of God that sex is.
Second, as a gift from God, this little Song invites us to honor our sexuality. The Bible and the church are not against sex, although it can feel like it at times. Christians have been part of movements that have banned books due to their sexual content. Yet, discomfort with sexual content is unfortunate because it causes us to miss the wider value of these banned books and to see the role that sexual material plays in the larger stories. At the same time, the Bible and the church have a profound respect for the power of sex. It can give life or death. It can heal and destroy. Yet, this Song can become quite steamy. The woman says, "Your love is better than wine, your anointing oils are fragrant, your name is perfume poured out; therefore, the maidens love you .... I held him, and would not let him go until I brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me." The man says, "Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, which feed among the lilies .... How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice." The woman says, "My beloved thrust his hand into the opening, and my inmost being yearned for him. I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, upon the handles of the bolt. ... I am faint with love." Yes, this Song can get steamy. I wonder how many Christians would want it banned! Yet, these words come from Holy Scripture (Song of Songs (Solomon) 1:2-3; 3:4; 4:5, 10; 5:4-5, 8). Sex motivates us consciously or unconsciously when we fall in love. If the relationship continues long enough, we will fall out of love. Sexual love needs time to mature into real love as a couple works at building an enduring relationship. Otherwise, all sexual attractions end in disappointments and disaster.[11] The Song is a reminder of the human fear of isolation, aloneness, and separation that forms the foundation of much our anxiety. We long for an encounter that will address our anxiety. Yet, we avoid a genuine encounter when we lose ourselves in work, pleasing others, popularity, and wealth. We long for an encounter with something greater than we are. Yet, we focus upon and cling to finite things. Our longing may result in the false encounters created by addiction to drugs, alcohol, sexuality, or religion. We might even submerge our individual longing into those of the crowd and identify with its customs and beliefs. Such attempts to overcome our fear of aloneness are futile because they seek fulfillment in finite things. As important and valuable as finitude is, it derives its meaning from a connection from the Infinite and Eternal. The finite can only be a partial answer to the longings of the human heart. It ought not to surprise us that we find a hint of the answer to our longing for an encounter in love.[12]
Third, the Song hints at the discipline we need as we experience sexual desire. It hints at the genuinely enjoyable nature of our sexuality. It suggests that our desires are strong enough that they may occur outside of a committed relationship. When we consider the rest of Scripture, we need to remember that the happiness of a home outweighs the momentary nature of sexual desire. We need to note the close connection between God and Eros. This Song stands as a long description of the rapture, the unquenchable yearning and the restless willingness and readiness, with which both partners in the covenant hasten towards an encounter. With this covenant in view, man and woman must hasten toward an encounter despite any hindrance and restriction.[13] Thus, the recurring themes of waiting and longing are not forms of punishment to these lovers. There is no sense of “wanting it all and wanting it now” with them. Instead, the lovers are willing to wait for one another because they know that each is fully committed to the relationship. They can dream of one another, wax poetic about each other, search for one another, even risk harm for one another (5:7), all because each knows that the other is waiting. This is no one-night stand, no dark-alley tryst — it is about unbridled passion found within the bonds of committed love. The truth is that real intimacy (and good sex, by association) is the result of a lot of time and energy invested in commitment, loving our partners with our hearts long before loving them with our bodies. They delay consummation of their love and sexual gratification in favor of a playful and passionate sense of anticipation. Throughout the Song, the lovers move toward and away from one another, in a sense revealing that desire and anticipation are often more intoxicating than instant gratification!
Song of Solomon 2:8-13 is part of the “Song of Songs,” or the loveliest of all songs, a section that describes an exchange between two lovers. He seems wary of coming too close. This segment describes the wish of the woman for the couple to run away together, to be alone in nature in the springtime. The first trait that the young woman identifies in her beloved, while he is still at some distance, is his voice. The young woman describes his approach to the home of her family in images of nimbleness and eagerness. If he is like a gazelle, he receives an honorific designation for nobility or royalty. If her beloved is like a young stage, he has vigor and gracefulness. She invites her attendants to look, as the beloved comes to the wall and windows, for the groom often must stay outside while attendants prepare the bride for the wedding. The groom is like a peeping tom. He seems wary of coming too close to human habitations and prepares for flight at the first sight of the brothers of the girl. She wants to run away. The time for leaving is optimal. She does not mention a destination, for as long as they are together, it will be enough for them. If spring is the time for singing, it has emerged spontaneously in response to the beauty of the spring and the well-known experience that spring is the time for love. The reference to the fig tree and vines suggests April-May, temperatures ranging from 40s to low 70s. With the Spring comes belief in new adventures, new possibilities, and a new outlook on life. Spring is a time to be outdoors in a private garden setting. It is a time to remove clothes, a time of new growth and fertility, as well as fragrant smells.
When we make love, the instinct, rhythm, and radiance of the human body come alive. The wisdom of the body has its own grace, ease, and joy. Making love is rich in symbolism and ambivalence. It arises on the threshold between solitude and intimacy, skin and soul, feeling and thought, memory and future. As an expression of love, it becomes an act of great beauty that brings celebration, wonder, delight, closeness, and shelter. If we are ensouled bodies (Barth), then making love is the entwining of two souls.[14]
Making love is that moment when everything seems okay with the world. Its brief moments become an escape from the pain, suffering, and brokenness of life. The world seems right for a brief time, even if things are falling apart. The longing contained within the act of making love is start to again, to give yourself away, to at least make oneself available for hope, healing, and restoration. Sex is so powerful because it provides a glimpse into the world we desire but cannot seem to create.[15]
In the Song of Songs, we can see the basis for sex being a sacramental act. It gives us a glimpse, taste, and sense of the love of God. Divine and human love are embodied, particular, passionate, and playful. Such love is full of hyperbole, longing, and surprise. We best evoke such love with the language of eros. Human eros points us toward God, and in that sense, is sacramental. It becomes such in the context of genuine care, tenderness, and fidelity because God is caring, tender, and faithful. As such, we are not trifle with sex. We need to treasure it, nurture it, and give it room to grow.[16]
Divine and human intimacy share dynamics that make one a school for the other. The safety of the embrace helps us to keep growing and changing.[17] Understanding intimacy in this way takes us beyond the simply sexual. In a culture so obsessed with sex, it desperately lacks intimacy. If we view the sex act itself as the height of intimacy, then we will miss the true gift of intimacy. Human sexuality is itself the desire for intimacy with another, of which the act of sex is only a part.[18] Thus, sharing moments of life, whether it be what happened while apart, sharing housework and raising children, play, and so on, are important ways of developing intimacy that can culminate in the act of making love. Our cultural image is that the best sex is occurring among the wild and free single crowd. Yet, studies regularly show that as a rule, the most satisfied people with their sex life is occurring between two people who are married, over 30, faithful to each other, and who enjoy marriage.[19] Real intimacy (and really good sex) is the result of a lot of time and energy invested in commitment, loving our partners with our hearts long before loving them with our bodies.
[1] While the language of this little book contains many words from a later period, one could make such a statement about the entire Old Testament. It would be likely that as the uses of words altered over the centuries, copyists updated the text to make it understandable. In any case, the images of the song envision this period of history.
[2] Roland Edmund Murphy, The Song of Songs: A Commentary on the Book of Canticles or the Song of Songs (ed. S. Dean McBride; Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible; Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1990), 100–101.
[3] Barth, Church Dogmatics, III.1 [41.3] 313-5.
[4] Barth, Church Dogmatics, III.2 [45.3] 294.
[5] (in God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality, Fortress Press, 1978).
[6] —Susan R. Andrews, “Eros and ethics,” a sermon preached November 5, 2004. http://covenantnetwork.org/sermon&papers/andrews-04.html.
[7] Phyllis Trible, “A Love Story Gone Awry” (in God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality, Fortress Press, 1978).
[8]
[9]
[10] The Sumerians had similar love poems, Dumuzi and Inanna being one and Set Me Free, My Sister is another.
[11] Scott Peck, in The Road Less Traveled,
[12] Eric Fromm, The Art of Loving, 78
[13] Barth, Church Dogmatics, III.1 [41.3] 313-5.
[14] —John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace (Harper Perennial, 2005).
[15] —Rob Bell, Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections Between Sexuality and Spirituality (Zondervan, 2008), 166-167.
[16] —Elizabeth Myer Boulton and Matthew Myer Boulton, “Sacramental sex: Divine love and human intimacy,” The Christian Century, March 11, 2011.
[17] —Adapted from Richard Rohr: Essential Teachings on Love, eds. Joelle Chase and Judy Traeger (Orbis Books: 2018), 149-150, 52-53.
[18] —Corey Farr, “Singles Myth: The Intimacy Challenge,” Patheos.com, January 10, 2020. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2020/01/10/singles-myth-the-intimacy-challenge/ Retrieved February 3, 2020.
[19] —Tim Gardner, “Exposing the Sex Lie,” Christianity Today International/Marriage Partnership magazine, Summer 1998, Vol. 15, No. 2, 72.
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