I recently wrote a piece contrasting the Song of Solomon with pornography. It has now been posted over on The Media Res (lots of other great stuff there – do take a look!):

The Song is a celebration of mediation. It is a celebration of the gift that cannot be contained, of the cup that runs over, of gratuity and extravagance. It is a celebration of a creation irreducible to a stagnant homogeneous logic of the Same, but which bursts forth in ever more glorious and surprising – and therefore difficult, challenging, unexpected – differences. It is a celebration of the body as a site of meaning’s presence and production. It is a celebration of a creation that excites desire across its differences and distances, where the very sustained intervals between related parties serve as their means of relation. It is a celebration of the mutual indwelling and interrelation of person, society, world, and body, where, beyond all measure, possession, control, or mastery, the presence of the other breaks into our life as a sheer benevolence.

Read the whole piece here.