Interpreting The Role Of Sexuality In The Song Of Songs

In the ancient near East, the ‘Egyptian Love Songs’ are love songs that teach lovers how to make love and motivate them to make love well. In the biblical realm, making love was an intense work such as their everyday activities like farming, eating, fighting, learning, and offering sacrifice. The language and imagery describing one is often used to describe another. Erotica teaches lovers how to arouse each of the five senses. The songs are full of images of touching, tasting, smelling, hearing, and seeing. These Egyptian love songs are possible to be a thousand years older than the songs in Songs of Songs.

In modern society as the idea of sex and relationships becomes more liberal the purpose of sex and relationships comes under further analysis. In what is really a matter of just under a century sex before marriage has transformed from a concept that was once expected to one which is rarely practiced and as the attitude towards single mothers takes a similar U-turn we are forced to analyse the purpose of such concepts. Nowadays by many, sex is seen more and more as a leisurely activity which is in stark contrast to the idea previously held where the purpose of sex was seen as purely for reproductory purposes. It therefore raises the question of whether we should have the

“A human being is essentially a sexual being”(Novak, 271). As David Novak above states, all humans are born with a natural inclination to fulfill his or her sexual right. Each person has needs that they yearn to have someone satisfy for them. The issue that isn’t so clear is how people satisfy these burning urges within them. We have discussed in class the many viewpoints that authors have presented us, some more liberal, others conservative, and some in between. In this paper, I will present David Novak’s idea of what good sex is, according to the values of traditional Orthodox-Conservative Judaism, as well as cover his view point on the morality of homosexual sex. To get a better understanding of Novak’s and others views, I will also discuss how a conversation may go between Novak and Yoel Kahn, another author who writes about Jewish ideas.

It can be uncomfortable to discuss with family, friends, partners and in academic settings. Furthermore, “in certain spiritual and religious traditions, sex is seen as sinful, evil or too carnal or animalistic, and rejected in favor of celibacy” (Diamond). Sex can be taught to have negative associations starting in childhood. Therefore, when experiencing such strong sensations as Diamond described, it is understandable that our judgement may be clouded. With other aspects of life, we may find it easier to think rationally; however, when it comes to sexual intimacy, all can seem to be at stake (Barnet).

Helminiak provides an interesting discussion based on a reoccurring topic of interest, integration of sexuality and spirituality. Helminiak begins the paper establishing that the greatest undertaking was trying to define spirituality. He then proposed that sexuality would either foster or hinder one’s spiritual growth to the extent that if would affect the person’s sexual behaviors. Helminiak suggested that someone’s sexual behavior would essentially fall in accord with their chosen religious belief and ethical requirement as a means to enhance their relationship with God. The paper begins with the author providing

“When God created Eve…he took her straight from Adam’s side. None of us have fully recovered from the surgery. There is aloneness, an incompleteness that we experience everyday of our lives” (pg. 126). Chapter eight goes to mention the grand affair found between us and God. There are times in life where everyone around me seems to be in some type of relationship. This leaves me feeling lonely and questioning what I have done wrong to deserve this single season. However, it’s a natural feeling to crave union with the opposite sex. We were made to be long for intimacy. In the society we live in, I feel as if this unity between man and woman have been misunderstood. We don’t believe that intimacy is possible anymore because several people are turning to sex to ease the pain (pg. 135). Fortunately, God provides beauty and strength. When we are in a relationship, and both people seeks to put God first, God will enable us to see the desires we seek in the opposite sex. When it comes to relationships, we shouldn’t focus on the physical intimacy and attraction, but rather on worshipping

Love, sex and relationships. These three aspects of life are in every culture. Although they are present in every culture, the characteristics of these three are portrayed differently between each and every society. Various cultures are influenced by the media, social norms, and traditions. The media portrays sex as if everyone is “doing it” all the time. This not only includes people who are married, but single people as well. Social norms, however, seem to look down upon people constantly having sex. Having sex constantly with many partners is not respected or accepted. And in tradition, it depends greatly from culture to culture. For the Muslim culture, wives are treated like property, where in America, marriage is the equal joining of two partners. To examine the differences between each culture/country in the world, we must dive into each culture’s beliefs and values amongst sexuality, relationships, marriage and love. The cultures focused on in this paper are Asian, European and American cultures.

While reading further into the poem, I began to get lost. The poet switched from beautiful imagery to dark images, and “children at birth whose mothers are going to give them away.” Then the poem takes a drastic turn and started to mention God, which caught me off guard, then summed up the poem with coldness. Additionally, I was caught off guard because Olds says that those who engage in meaningless sex are those who are religious, who “will not accept the false messiah, the ones who love the priest not God.” But in reality I feel the ones who are religious are unlikely to partake in meaningless sex because in most religions it is looked down upon, told that it is an ungodly act.

The true nature of the poem was cordial and relaxed, the sentiment was inspiring and it made me feel intimate and warm. This poem also gave me the strong feeling of passion as his use of poetic devices allowed me to see the point he was trying to make. The poem talks about him trying to keep their love in a picture so that the romance’s beauty will be a part of them forever. However, this song is not just about mending a relationship with your significant other, it can also be about reconstructing the relationship with your family. This is shown when he said "Loving can hurt" which could have been talking about to his mother since taking care of a child could be difficult but rewarding at the same time. Then the verse "keep this love in a photograph"

Sexual relationships have evolved over the centuries to create the current culture in which sex is a commodity to be sold, traded, and exploited out of human carnal desire. This evolution was effected by numerous factors ranging from the Pill to biological understanding to individualistic tendencies. As the place of sex changed in society the Church defined doctrinal principles, tried to remain relevant in the world, and sought to uphold the unitive and sacramental nature of sex. Through councils and papal encyclicals the Church combatted the past and future factors and situations which added fuel to the flame that was destroying the nature of sexual relations. This paper will argue that the papal encyclical Humana vitae sought to address the

A procession of men crests over the horizon. They carry a king on their shoulders as they move toward the setting of his wedding. He had courted his bride-to-be for some time, and now, he will marry the one he loves. Once he arrives at the place of his wedding, he greets his beloved and compliments her beauty. The two are married and begin to enjoy the pleasures of a godly marriage, and although they experience a minor setback, the two remain desirous of one another and enjoy their lives together.

“God takes the beauty of sexual touching out of the purely physical and into the intimate place of the heart” (Rosenau, 2002, p. 34). Sex neither has to be ‘dirty’ nor unfulfilling. Moreover, sex is not simply a means to an ends. It is an activity divinely created so that “a man…[may] be joined to his wife; and…become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24, NASB) further deepening the emotional bond shared between them.

In Reverend Andrew Greeley’s article Premarital Sex, he discusses the issues behind chastity and promiscuity and how different generations view them. The thesis of this article was that the Catholic Church’s teachings were affected by the old-fashioned, cultural belief that physical virginity must be saved for marriage. Greeley’s purpose of the article is to show the difference between physical virginity and sexual love. The first argument that Greeley makes is that, although a practiced norm in the Catholic culture, physical virginity is not part of the Catholic Christian heritage. Greeley adds that the Catholics associated it with the practice that if the bride was a virgin, it guaranteed that land and property was passed on the the rightful offspring.

The poem itself is being narrated by an anonymous speaker, a man, who urges an anonymous woman, presumably a lover, to have sex with him. The poem itself is broken up into three parts: the extent of his life, the inevitability and permanence of mortality, and coaxing her to have sex with him. Each section is characterized by different pace and tone, which helps indicate to the reader the meaning and change of each part. The first stanza has a very loving and doting nature to it. The narrator is telling the woman how he would love her, if only he wasn’t constrained by time. He begins by complimenting her forehead and eventually making his way down to her heart, a metaphor for both sex and love. In the overall context of the poem, it can be inferred that this is an exaggeration of her beauty and his love for her, but in the moment, it seems as though he is truly in love with her. This point is further emphasized in the last few lines of the poem, discussing each part of her body: “An hundred

Biblical writing tends to have strict laws about sex and sexuality and how it was expressed and universally accepted. The Pauline Epistles, or Paul’s views, had unique views on sex because he completely distrusted gender as a whole and because he believed that there would be an apocalypse. Many of Paul’s ideas were widely accepted back than because they explained may things that people could not, for instance it explains homosexuality. Today, the laws are seen differently and in some cases interpreted much more literally than they were back then. It is likely that ideas have changed either because people have become more understanding and accepting of others or because we no longer view sex and sexuality as a thing to be ashamed of. This new age of interpretation is seen in the way homosexuality is accepted today, submission of the wife to the husband in some religious dominations, and the ideal of marriage and its sexual implications.