Yancy W Smith

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 uncovers 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. The foreword is written by noted liturgical scholar Alistair Stewart.

Brief review in Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 128.3 (2016):

This extensive study is based on the dissertation directed by Carolyn Osiek, submitted to Brite Divinity School in 2009. In addition to the first-ever English translation of the Georgian text of the commentary of Hippolytus on the Song of Songs, the book provides a comprehensive study of the intention and social positioning of the earliest Christian interpretation of this biblical book. The book demonstrates through the setting of the commentary in preparation for baptism, that Hippolytus deliberately wanted to replace [earlier, viz. Melito of Sardis] readings for the Passover Festival: "The reading of the Song of Songs and the Commentary On the Song could very well be a midrashic replacement for the kind of reading and midrash on Exodus 12" (413). It is also clear how here for the first time among Christians, the genre of the commentary was used to reach larger parts of the Greco-Roman elite. The study is a useful tool to explore the early Christian reception of the Song of Songs.
—Anselm C. Hagedorn, Berlin

My book is now in 25 great libraries. Ask your librarian to get it for yours.

1. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Roberts Library Ft Worth, TX 76115 the United States, 3 miles away from my home
2. Texas Christian University, Mary Couts Burnett Library, Fort Worth, TX, 76155, 4 miles away
3. Abilene Christian University, Brown Library Brown Library, Abilene, TX 79699 the United States, 139 miles
4. Oblate School of Theology, Donald E. O'Shaughnessy Library, San Antonio, TX 78216 the United States, 228 miles away
5. Saint Louis University - Main Campus, Pius XII Memorial Library St Louis, MO 63108 United States 576 miles
5. Pitts Theology Library Candler School of Theology Atlanta, GA 30322, United States, 759 miles
7. Columbia Theological Seminary, JBC Library Decatur, GA 30031 United States, 761 miles
8. SBTS Library James P. Boyce Centennial Library Louisville, KY 40280 United States, 763 miles
9. University of Notre Dame, Hesburgh Library, Notre Dame, IN 46556 United States, 875 miles
10. Clemens and Alcuin Libraries @ College of St. Benedict/St. Johns University, , Collegeville, MN 56321 the United States, 908 miles 
11. Claremont School of Theology Library CST Library Claremont, CA 91711 United States, 1100 miles
12. Gateway Seminary Library, Ontario, CA 91761 the United States, 1100 miles
13. Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Clifford E. Barbour Library Pittsburgh, PA 15206 the United States, 1100 miles
14. University of Manitoba Libraries, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Canada, 1100 miles
15. Carroll College Library, Corette Library Helena, MT 59625 United States, 1200 miles
16. Library of Congress Washington, DC 20540 the United States, 1200 miles
17. Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ 08542 the United States, 1300 miles
18. Columbia University in the City of New York, Columbia University Libraries, New York, NY 10027 United States, 1400 miles
19. Gateway Seminary, Mill Valley, CA 94941 the United States, 1400 miles
20. Graduate Theological Union, Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Berkeley, CA 94709 United States, 1400 miles
21. Yale University Library, New Haven, CT 06520 the United States, 1400 miles
21. UNIVERSITATSBIBLIOTHEK, University of Basel, Basel, 4057 Switzerland, 5200 miles
23. Universität Konstanz, KIM (Kommunikations-, Informations-, Medienzentrum), IT- und Bibliotheksdienste, Konstanz, D-78464 Germany, 5200 miles
24. Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Zürich, 8001 Switzerland, 5200 miles
25. Unisa: Muckleneuk Campus, Pretoria, 0003 South Africa, 9100 miles

This discourse analysis of Philippians situates Paul’s use of consolatory _topoi_ in the overall flow of the letter. A description of the discourse flow and structure is derived using a cognitive linguistic approach to text-analysis, combined with a heuristic set of research questions developed for the use of non-linguists in discourse analysis. Philippians is compared with examples of Greco-Roman and Jewish martyr consolation. The contribution of consolatory commonplaces in Philippians is described in relation to the structure and purposes of the letter. Elements of Philippians chapter three are also compared to certain structural features of lament. The thesis is that Paul made use of consolation as a means of persuasion to call the Philippian church to practice the independence of mature and faithful witness to the gospel of Christ, internal community solidarity, and courage in the face of increasing local suppression of the Christian group.

Publication View. 22328911. Judgment, Rhetoric, and the Problem of Incommensurability: Recalling Practical Wisdom (review) (2005). Smith, Yancy. Abstract. Rhetoric & Public Affairs - Volume 8, Number 3, Fall 2005. Publication details. ...

Since the era of Eugene Nida, Evangelical Bible translation has been revolutionized by his notion of dynamic or functional equivalence. Powerful theological and theoretical concerns, however call into question its usefulness and its catholicity. This article explores and questions the usefulness of the equivalence model of translation in Christian mission from the stand point of incarnation.

Publication View. 22328911. Judgment, Rhetoric, and the Problem of Incommensurability: Recalling Practical Wisdom (review) (2005). Smith, Yancy. Abstract. Rhetoric & Public Affairs - Volume 8, Number 3, Fall 2005. Publication details. ...

Many scholars have gained insight looking beyong the textual world created by beholding texts alone as the resource for reconstructing the context (thus the "meanings") of Biblical phrases with a visual registry of reference. I apply insights gained from viewing ancient Christian depictions of Christ crucified in the nude to illuminate a difficult metaphorical passage of this deutero-Pauline text.

This discourse analysis of Philippians situates Paul's use of consolatory topoi in the overall flow of the letter. A description of the discourse flow and structure is derived using a cognitive linguistic approach to text-analysis, combined with a heuristic set of research questions developed for the use of non-linguists in discourse analysis. Thesis: Paul made use of Greco-Roman consolatory rhetoric as a means of persuasion to call the Philippian church to practice the independence of mature and faithful witness to the gospel, community solidarity, unity and courage in the face of increasing suppression of their group by outsiders.

"In a series of well-crafted essays that are provocative, captivating, challenging, and ground-breaking, this book addresses themes that long have fruitfully occupied the research agenda of Carolyn Osiek, R.S.C.J. In a diversified but coherent set of chapters, Roman visualization of feminine values, translation as performance, Matthew's God presiding over a cosmic household and the imperial depiction of the emperor as Father presiding over a nation, a man's place in the construction of gender, vengeance-seeking biblical widows, symposiac humor, early-church women, and early-church families, are effectively addressed. This marvelous collection deserves to be broadly read and frequently cited."
—Dietmar Neufe,
University of British Columbia

My article examines Hippolytus' view of early Christian women through the lense of the Commentary on the Song of Songs read as a mystagogy. It challenges recent assumptions that Hippolytus proposed a theology for women's ordination in favor of a more nuanced view that Hippolytus had to reckon with women matrons of the church despite his male centric views. It also argues in favor of a Roman provenance for the commentary on the basis of iconographic and literary references in the commentary.