Gallup Again - The Bible

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

From the Wikipedia entry on the Song of Songs:

The literal subject of the Song of Songs is love and sexual longing between a man and a woman, and it has little (or nothing) to say about the relationship of God and man; in order to find such a meaning it was necessary to resort to allegory, treating the love that the Song celebrates as an analogy for the love between God and Church.[6] The Christian church's interpretation of the Song as evidence of God's love for his people, both collectively and individually, began with Origen. Over the centuries the emphases of interpretation shifted, first reading the Song as a depiction of the love between Christ and Church, the 11th century adding a moral element, and the 12th century understanding of the Bride as the Virgin Mary, with each new reading absorbing rather than simply replacing earlier ones, so that the commentary became ever more complex.[26]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_So...ristianity

emphasis added

Christian allegorical interpretation of this book began with Origen, who lived c. 185 – c. 253. That is, a little while before Woolston.

Jews accepted the book into their canon based on allegorical readings circa 2nd century.

Again, none of that is the issue. It doesn’t matter if a particular passage is allegorical, it matters whether people believe it to be so. It’s all very well and valid to point out that Church fathers and theological philosophers support an allegorical interpretation of scripture, but it’s what the rank-and-file believe that matters more.

Test: 100 000 non-witches murdered because people believed Exodus 22:18 was a literal instruction.

Boru