ISSN: 2710-4028 DOI: https://doi.org/10.54208/0008 111
dogma, regardless of denomination, church, sect, or
organization, is a form of domestic abuse.
Bridal Theology in The Old Testament
Bridal theology in the Old Testament is based
primarily on the imagery of marriage found in various
scriptures describing and emphasizing the covenantal
love relationship between God and the Israelites. That
imagery highlights the intimacy, exclusivity, and depth
of the relationship between God and his people and
serves as a reminder of God’s faithfulness even amid
their unfaithfulness. God is depicted as a faithful
“husband” who enters a covenant relationship with
Israel, a “wife” who is sometimes faithful, sometimes
errant.1
The prophet Jeremiah described the relationship
between God and Israel as a marriage covenant.2 The
prophet Isaiah similarly used the marriage metaphor
to describe that relationship: “[A]s the bridegroom
rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over
thee.”3 The book of Hosea also describes God’s love
for Israel in terms of a husband’s love for his wife.
The prophet’s marriage to a harlot is an allegorical
representation of God’s love for the Israelites, even
though they had been unfaithful and pursued other
gods.
The Song of Solomon is a poetic celebration of marital
love and the sexual union of a bride and groom who
explicitly express their love for each other sensually,
highlighting their relationship’s beauty, intimacy, and
exclusivity. Throughout the book, there are graphic
descriptions of the lovers’ bodies and erotic metaphors,
suggesting sexual practices that are certainly
provocative and perhaps even pornographic to more
prudish readers. Although the Song of Solomon has no
explicit reference to God, the Jewish tradition usually
interpreted it as an allegory of the relationship between
God and Israel, while many Christians read it as an
allegory of Christ, the “bridegroom,” and his “bride,”
the church.
However, there are doctrinal disagreements among
Christians over whether that book should only be
interpreted literally as extolling the sacredness of
1 Is 54:5 (King James Version)
2 Jer 31:31, 32 (KJV)
3 Is 62:5 (KJV)
marriage between a man and woman or if the book is
an allegory of the spiritual marriage between believers
and God and whether the “bride” of Christ is only the
whole body of believers (i.e., the church) or if “bride”
also applies to individual believers.
As E. Ann Matter discussed in The Voice of My Beloved:
The Song of Songs in Western Medieval Christianity:
“The association of the Song of Songs with the love
between God and the individual soul is present in the
Christian tradition from the beginning.”4
1
She cited
Origen of Alexandria (c.185–c.253), an influential but
controversial Christian theologian who is “universally
acknowledged as the founder of Christian allegorical
interpretation of the Song of Songs.”5
2
“Origen…
proposed that the Song of Songs could be interpreted
as the soul’s yearning for God. Like other interpreters,
Origen associated the soul with the female protagonist,
and the divine with her male ‘beloved.’”6
3
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) was also a proponent
of applying Christian bridal theology to individual
believers. He is best known for his collection of 86
sermons on the Song of Solomon, in which he used
erotic language to describe the relationship between
God and believers. He claimed: “[I]f a love relationship
is the special and outstanding characteristic of bride
and groom it is not unfitting to call the soul that loves
God a bride.”7
4
Leon J. Podles, however, in The Church Impotent:
The Feminization of Christianity, was critical of that
individual interpretation by Origen and Bernard. He
wrote:
The soul as the bride of God is an allegory in
Origen and Bernard, but the allegory cannot
be extended to the individual soul precisely
because it is individual. In the New Testament, the
bride is the Church. Even worse, this allegory
was taken up into the increasing humanization
of the relationship of the Christian and
4 Ann E. Matter, The Voice of My Beloved: The Song of Songs in
Western Medieval Christianity. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 1990), 123–50.
5 Matter, The Voice of My Beloved, 20–48.
6 Jonathan Kaplan, “Why is a love poem full of sex in the Bible?
Readers have been struggling with the Song of Songs for 2,000 years”, The
Conversation, February 10, 2023, https://theconversation.com/why-is-a-
love-poem-full-of-sex-in-the-bible-readers-have-been-struggling-with-the-
song-of-songs-for-2-000-years-198375
7 Leon J. Podles, The Church Impotent: The Feminization of
Christianity. Dallas: Spence Publishing, 1999, 103–105
dogma, regardless of denomination, church, sect, or
organization, is a form of domestic abuse.
Bridal Theology in The Old Testament
Bridal theology in the Old Testament is based
primarily on the imagery of marriage found in various
scriptures describing and emphasizing the covenantal
love relationship between God and the Israelites. That
imagery highlights the intimacy, exclusivity, and depth
of the relationship between God and his people and
serves as a reminder of God’s faithfulness even amid
their unfaithfulness. God is depicted as a faithful
“husband” who enters a covenant relationship with
Israel, a “wife” who is sometimes faithful, sometimes
errant.1
The prophet Jeremiah described the relationship
between God and Israel as a marriage covenant.2 The
prophet Isaiah similarly used the marriage metaphor
to describe that relationship: “[A]s the bridegroom
rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over
thee.”3 The book of Hosea also describes God’s love
for Israel in terms of a husband’s love for his wife.
The prophet’s marriage to a harlot is an allegorical
representation of God’s love for the Israelites, even
though they had been unfaithful and pursued other
gods.
The Song of Solomon is a poetic celebration of marital
love and the sexual union of a bride and groom who
explicitly express their love for each other sensually,
highlighting their relationship’s beauty, intimacy, and
exclusivity. Throughout the book, there are graphic
descriptions of the lovers’ bodies and erotic metaphors,
suggesting sexual practices that are certainly
provocative and perhaps even pornographic to more
prudish readers. Although the Song of Solomon has no
explicit reference to God, the Jewish tradition usually
interpreted it as an allegory of the relationship between
God and Israel, while many Christians read it as an
allegory of Christ, the “bridegroom,” and his “bride,”
the church.
However, there are doctrinal disagreements among
Christians over whether that book should only be
interpreted literally as extolling the sacredness of
1 Is 54:5 (King James Version)
2 Jer 31:31, 32 (KJV)
3 Is 62:5 (KJV)
marriage between a man and woman or if the book is
an allegory of the spiritual marriage between believers
and God and whether the “bride” of Christ is only the
whole body of believers (i.e., the church) or if “bride”
also applies to individual believers.
As E. Ann Matter discussed in The Voice of My Beloved:
The Song of Songs in Western Medieval Christianity:
“The association of the Song of Songs with the love
between God and the individual soul is present in the
Christian tradition from the beginning.”4
1
She cited
Origen of Alexandria (c.185–c.253), an influential but
controversial Christian theologian who is “universally
acknowledged as the founder of Christian allegorical
interpretation of the Song of Songs.”5
2
“Origen…
proposed that the Song of Songs could be interpreted
as the soul’s yearning for God. Like other interpreters,
Origen associated the soul with the female protagonist,
and the divine with her male ‘beloved.’”6
3
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) was also a proponent
of applying Christian bridal theology to individual
believers. He is best known for his collection of 86
sermons on the Song of Solomon, in which he used
erotic language to describe the relationship between
God and believers. He claimed: “[I]f a love relationship
is the special and outstanding characteristic of bride
and groom it is not unfitting to call the soul that loves
God a bride.”7
4
Leon J. Podles, however, in The Church Impotent:
The Feminization of Christianity, was critical of that
individual interpretation by Origen and Bernard. He
wrote:
The soul as the bride of God is an allegory in
Origen and Bernard, but the allegory cannot
be extended to the individual soul precisely
because it is individual. In the New Testament, the
bride is the Church. Even worse, this allegory
was taken up into the increasing humanization
of the relationship of the Christian and
4 Ann E. Matter, The Voice of My Beloved: The Song of Songs in
Western Medieval Christianity. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 1990), 123–50.
5 Matter, The Voice of My Beloved, 20–48.
6 Jonathan Kaplan, “Why is a love poem full of sex in the Bible?
Readers have been struggling with the Song of Songs for 2,000 years”, The
Conversation, February 10, 2023, https://theconversation.com/why-is-a-
love-poem-full-of-sex-in-the-bible-readers-have-been-struggling-with-the-
song-of-songs-for-2-000-years-198375
7 Leon J. Podles, The Church Impotent: The Feminization of
Christianity. Dallas: Spence Publishing, 1999, 103–105
