The Fountain of his Lips: Desire and Divine Union in Gregory of Nyssa's Homilies on the Song of Songs

Abstract

The whole world is not worthy of the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all the Scriptures are holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies. 1 These sentiments of Rabbi Akiva resound throughout the Christian tradition, from Hippolytus, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa in Late Antiq- uity, through Bernard of Clairvaux, William of St. Thierry, John of Ford in the Middle Ages, to J.S. Bach's famous cantata, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, where the two duets that follow the opening chorale are clearly inspired by the same wisdom of Solomon. 2 This essay concerns itself with the contribution of Gregory of Nyssa (335-395) to this richly varied tradition. Composed in the twilight of his career, Homilies on the Song of Songs is often overlooked by scholars of his exegetical works, but indeed it deserves at least as much attention as his more famous Life of Moses. 3 Homilies on the Song of Songs allows the reader to see more clearly than any of his other works how Gregory understands union with God. In Homily One he tells us that union with God is the purpose of the Song of Songs itself. This essay, then, will focus on divine union as the orga- nizing theme of the Homilies and argue that, despite Gregory's neo-Platoni- cally inspired language, his understanding of union with God is thoroughly grounded in his exegesis of Scripture. 4 Throughout the course of the essay we will see that human longing is fundamental to the search for God. Accord- ing to Gregory, the primary purpose of the erotically charged imagery in the text Song of Songs itself, is to train human desire to long for God. 5 Moreover, this essay will argue that union with God is something quite dynamic. This dynamism is often called epectasy, but what often goes unnoticed is how this dynamic union between God and the soul (symbolized by the bride's union with the Bridegroom) is clearly oriented to apostolic mission and service to others. Finally, an examination of the bride's dynamic epectasy reveals another characteristic largely overlooked by scholars of Gregory's spirituality; as ma- ture and seasoned in the spiritual life as the bride undoubtedly is, she always feels as though she is just a beginner. Gregory makes an important claim about the nature of religious experience: the person deeply immersed in the ineffable