Cross-pollination

While reading Pedagogy of the Bible by Dale B. Martin for my TA class-work, I've run into Bernard of Clairvaux, a medieval monk. He apparently has a series of sermons on Song of Songs which sound fascinating. I'll have to hunt them down.

Additionally, Martin is going through how (at least American) biblical studies seems to have been captivated by the historical critical method and the belief that there is one single meaning intended by the author of the text (or only one meaning that an audience can or should receive from it). He contrasts this to the pre-moderns would would find a number meanings within a single text, both literal/narrative and allegorical ones. And these theologians had no problem holding multiple meanings, even when they were drastically different.

This seems to parallel Alter's approach to the Bible as literature, that is, as art. Art has always been something in which individuals viewing the art are each drawn to their own meaning. Viewing biblical passages in this same light lets us draw out multiple meanings from the same texts, rather than insisting that there is a way to be guided to a single "true" meaning. (And it implies that the authors/editors/redactors of the biblical text knew they were making art and were inspired to put multiple meanings into it.)