The Song of Songs and the Theology of the Body of Saint John Paul II:Biblical Roots of Love

Abstract

This paper examines how the Song of Songs articulates beauty and dignity
as two inseparable poles of love — beauty as the epiphany of the gift and
dignity as its ethos — and how this biblical language shapes Christian
reflection in dialogue with St. John Paul II. Drawing on his “theology of
the body” (1979-1984) and key documents (Familiaris consortio, Mulieris
dignitatem, Novo millennio ineunte), the study shows that the poetics of
the Song of Songs has been translated into a comprehensive anthropology
and ethics of self-giving with a view to its sacramental, personalistic, and
pastoral profile. Methodologically, it integrates exegesis (literal and spiritual senses, nuptial metaphor), systematic theology (the sacramentality of marriage, the eschatological horizon), and pastoral practice (formation of conscience, accompaniment of families). It concludes by outlining four challenges for the third millennium: to form an integral anthropology of love, to renew the family as a “communion of life and love,” to rediscover the reciprocity of man and woman, and to cultivate a spirituality of communion that unites liturgy and diakonia. The paper thus offers a synthesis that not only interprets but also normatively orients: persuading by beauty and binding by dignity.