The Mystery of Anointing: Hippolytus' Commentary on the Song of Songs in Social and Critical Contexts: Texts, Translations, and Comprehensive Study

On the Song of Songs by Hippolytus is the earliest surviving Christian interpretation of the Song of Solomon covering the first three chapters to 3:7. Hippolytus wrote the commentary as a mystagogy, an oral instruction in the mysteries of the faith for newly baptized Christians during the Passover season. Side-by-side translations and in-depth studies of the social, liturgical, and theological context of the commentary uncover new evidence and fresh perspectives on debates about Hippolytus.

This work presents the first ever English translation of the Georgian, Greek, Paleo-Slavonic, Armenian and Syriac texts as well as many patristic quotations. It demonstrates how Hippolytus used the commentary to define the identity of Hippolytan Christians against Jews and rival Christian groups. Hippolytus interpreted the Song as a complicated love triangle between Israel, Christ and the Gentile Church. He represented Christ the Logos in various richly symbolic ways: as the feminine Sophia, who lived with Solomon, as the transgendered maker of wine (like Dionysus) that nurtures the Church with his breasts, as the victorious Helios who rides across the sky, supreme over the nations. The commentary returns often to the topic of the post-baptismal mystery of Christic anointing. This work opens up the world of third-century rivalries within the Jesus movement for anyone interested in biblical interpretation or ancient Christian history and theology.