Sexuality and Christianity. Homosexuality and the Bible. When reading these couplings, it is clear that these topics are often taboo when mixed together. Dr. Christina Bucher, the Carl W. Zeigler professor of religion and current chair of the department of religious studies, however, made these four topics blend together during her lecture this past week.
On Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m., the Elizabethtown College’s Provost-sponsored Faculty Scholarship Series held an event called “Christianity, Eros and the Song of Songs” in the Susquehanna Room. Bucher chose the topic because she is finishing a book on the Bible’s Song of Songs, which is to be published later this year by Harold Press.
Bucher is also an undergraduate alumna of Etown’s class of 1975. From there, Bucher earned her master’s degree in theology from Bethany Theological Seminary in 1977. Bucher then earned her doctoral degree in religion from Claremont Graduate University in 1988. Bucher, as a faculty fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, researched the Song of Songs through a Pietist and Anabaptist lens. She has also presented scholarly papers on the Song of Songs at the regional, national and international levels of the Society of Biblical Literature.
This event is one in a series featuring faculty scholarship that is planned by the College’s provost, Susan Traverso. “Traverso invited me to give a lecture this year in this series,” Bucher explained. At Tuesday’s lecture, she discussed some of the content of the Biblical book, which is a collection of love poems. Bucher related the poems in Song of Songs to current discussions among Christians regarding issues of sexual orientation and identity.
Bucher began by explaining the title of the Biblical book. The title, Song of Songs, comes from the opening line of the text, a superlative naming this book the grandest of all of songs. It is more easily understood, Bucher explained, when one thinks of the phrase “king of kings” – the best, the greatest. Bucher, along with many other scholars, have turned to the Song of Songs as a way to study the expressions of human sexual desires.
Bucher made sure to clarify from the start that she was not there to talk about the ethical debates of homosexuality. “Recently, two Methodist ministers have been in the news for having officiated at gay weddings, and the one has been defrocked (stripped of his credentials) for violating church law. I am not making an argument for or against the position churches hold regarding homosexuality, but rather, discussing what the Song of Songs contributes to our understanding of human sexuality,” Bucher said.
In the last century or so, Biblical scholars have started looking at the Song of Songs as a book about eros, the Greek word meaning human desire. Bucher set out to hold this lecture as a way of showing that the Song of Songs can be used as a conversation starter for discussions of human sexuality. The love poems in the Biblical book show a deep understanding of the individual self and the divine through a Christian outlook.
“I hope people who attended the talk walked away better informed that the Bible does contain at least one book that has a positive view of human sexuality. This is not a book containing ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ about sexuality, but a book that, through its figurative language, encourages the reader or hearer to reflect on the nature of human sexual desire,” Bucher explained.
Bucher mentioned that medieval Christians were much more open to the book, and they studied the Song of Songs in a unique way. The two speakers in the book are often viewed as one man and one woman – unknown by name. The medieval Christians, however, viewed the book as an expression of love between God and humanity.
Without getting controversial or offensive, Bucher tackled this subject with grace and knowledge. As a scholar of the Song of Songs, Bucher brought to light many new and interesting ideas about eros and Christianity that some, if not all, audience members had never heard of before.
