Solomon's Tantric Song

This book answers the question if the Song of Solomon is neither an involved allegory of the soul nor just some frank eroticism with God absent, what is it? Why is it even in the Bible and can it tell us anything today? This genuinely unique study suggests readers have lost, or never quite found, the best all-round key to reading. This must be along the lines of erotic spirituality. And while there is no exact parallel with Asian sexual mysticism there is undoubtedly some, and parts of the work must be read more esoterically. At the same time as this book is an inquiry into the Song's mysteries it is also appreciation of it as poetry. Feeling for the poetry and its essential unity is often lost amid standard commentary. It should be what provides clues to the much disputed "story" behind the anthology, even if that is not exactly the virtue preserved tale of the Shepherd thesis beloved of American Puritanism which has dislodged Solomon from a picture to which he was once central. The fabled wisdom attributed to Solomon includes the esoteric and reaches into issues for sex and sexuality today. It is relevant to persons both straight and gay and to ongoing debates about sex and marriage everywhere, but especially within Christianity.