Watching the Watchmen: How Does the Violence in Song of Songs 5:7 Speak to Australia’s Problem with Violence against Women and vice versa?
Issue: Vol 34 No. 1 (2021) Special Issue on Religion and Violence
Journal: Journal for the Academic Study of Religion
Subject Areas: Religious Studies Buddhist Studies Islamic Studies Biblical Studies
DOI: 10.1558/jasr.20357
Abstract:
In Australia, one woman a week is killed by a current or former partner. But what has this to do with Song of Songs, an expedition through love and the bodies making it? The Song has become an idealised representation of mutually respectful lovers, but there is violence in the text. Building on my previous research into Song of Songs 1:1-6 and intimate partner violence, and using the same interdisciplinary approach combining feminist biblical interpretation and Australian social research, this article recognises the violence against the woman of the Song by the city’s night watchmen at 5:7, and dialogically explores both its significance for an Australian context rife with violence against women, and what light our Australian context sheds on the Song. The Song of Songs is difficult poetry which requires careful consideration, but there is much we can learn from this bi-directional questioning of the text.
Author: Erin Martine Sessions
References :
Ahmed, Sara 2004 The Cultural Politics of Emotion. Routledge, New York.
2017 Living a Feminist Life. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
Alter, Robert 2018 The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary. W.W. Norton, New York.
Anonymous 2016 How the Justice System Lets Sexual Assault Victims Down. Online: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-02/brock-turner-justice-system-sexual-assault-victims/7801784?nw=0
ANROWS (Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Limited) 2016 Intimate Partner Violence Contributes Highest Health Risk to Women Aged 18 to 44. Online: https://www.anrows.org.au/media-releases/intimate-partner-violence-contributes-highest-health-risk-women-aged/
Assis, Eliyahu 2009 Flashes of Fire: A Literary Analysis of the Song of Songs. T&T Clark, London.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2020 Sexual Assault in Australia. Online: https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/0375553f-0395-46cc-9574-d54c74fa601a/aihw-fdv-5.pdf.aspx?inline=true
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2018 Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence in Australia. Online: https://www.aihw.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/2018/february/new-national-statistical-report-sheds-light-on-fam
Baker, Judy 2012 Three Levels of Health Promotion/Disease Prevention. Online: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/diseaseprevention/chapter/three-levelsofhealthpromotiondiseaseprevention/#:~:text=Primary%20prevention%20includes%20those%20preventive,problems%20developing%20in%20the%20future
Bakhtin, Mikhail 1982 The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. University of Texas Press, Austin.
1984 Problems in Dostoevsky’s Poetics, edited by C. Emerson. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Bateman, Jenna, C. Henderson and C. Kezelman 2013 Trauma-Informed Care and Practice: Towards a Cultural Shift in Policy Reform across Mental Health and Human Services in Australia, A National Strategic Direction. Position Paper and Recommendations of the National Trauma-Informed Care and Practice Advisory Working Group, Mental Health Coordinating Council (MHCC).
Black, Fiona C. 2001 Nocturnal Egression: Exploring Some Margins of the Song of Songs. In Postmodern Interpretations of the Bible, edited by A. K. M. Adam, 93–104. Chalice Press, St Louis, MO.
2009 The Artifice of Love: Grotesque Bodies and the Song of Songs. T&T Clark, London.
Black, Fiona C., and J. Cheryl Exum 1998 Semiotics in Stained Glass: Edward Burne-Jones’ Song of Songs. In Biblical Studies/Cultural Studies, edited by J. Cheryl Exum and Stephen D. Moore, 315–42. Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield.
Brenner, Athalya 1989 The Song of Songs. JSOT Press, Sheffield.
1993 Feminist Companion to the Song of Songs. Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield.
Brooks, Richard 1999 Song of Songs. Christian Focus, Fearn.
Clines, David J. A. 1995 Why is There a Song of Songs and What Does It Do to You If You Read It? In Interested Parties: The Ideology of Writers and Readers of the Hebrew Bible, 94–121. Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield.
Commonwealth of Australia (Department of Social Services) 2016 Third Action Plan 2016–2019 of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010–2022. Online: https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/10_2016/third_action_plan.pdf
Council of Australian Governments 2010 The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010–2022. Online: https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/08_2014/national_plan1.pdf
Davis, Lori, and Samuel Museus 2019 What Is Deficit Thinking? An Analysis of Conceptualizations of Deficit Thinking and Implications for Scholarly Research. Currents 1(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/currents.17387731.0001.110
Deakin University 2019 Critical Incidents and Trauma. Online: https://www.deakin.edu.au/students/help/emergency-and-crisis-info/critical-incidents
Dent, Georgie 2018 We Despair. 10 Women Murdered in 22 Days. Online: https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/we-despair-10-women-murdered-in-22-days/
2019 Five Women were Murdered in Australia in Seven Days. Online: https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/five-women-were-murdered-in-australia-in-seven-days/
Dharamraj, Havilah 2018 Altogether Lovely: A Thematic and Intertextual Reading of the Song of Songs. Fortress Press, Minneapolis.
Douglas, Heather 2019 Policing Domestic and Family Violence. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy 8(2): 31–49. https://doi.org/10.5204/ijcjsd.v8i2.1122
Duguid, Iain M. 2015 The Song of Songs. IVP Academic, Downers Grove, IL.
Exum, J. Cheryl 2000 Ten Things Every Feminist Should Know about the Song of Songs. In The Song of Songs, edited by Athalya Brenner and Carol R. Fontaine, 24–35. JSOT, Sheffield.
2005 Song of Songs. Westminster John Knox Press, Philadelphia.
Falk, Marcia 1982 Love Lyrics from the Bible: A Translation and Literary Study of the Song of Songs. The Almond Press, Sheffield.
1990 The Song of Songs: A New Translation and Interpretation. HarperCollins, New York.
Family and Community Services 2019a How to Reject Domestic and Family Violence and Promote Respect. Online: https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/domestic-violence/about/how-to-reject-domestic-violence-and-promote-respect
2019b Types of Abuse in Domestic and Family Violence. Online: https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/domestic-violence/about/types-of-abuse-in-dv
Family Law Court of Australia 2016 What is Family Violence? Online: http://www.familycourt.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/fcoaweb/family-law-matters/family-violence/
Fisher, Miriam 2020 Femicide in Australia: May Proves Deadly Month for Women Killed by Domestic Violence. Online: https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/australia/femicide-in-australia-may-proves-deadly-month-for-women-killed-by-domestic-violence-ng-b881563543z
Fitz-Gibbon, Kate, and Silke Meyer 2020 The Senate Inquiry into Family Violence has Closed, Missing an Important Opportunity. Online: https://theconversation.com/the-senate-inquiry-into-family-violence-has-closed-missing-an-important-opportunity-139106
Flood, Michael, and Bob Pease 2006 The Factors Influencing Community Attitudes in Relation to Violence Against Women: A Critical Review of the Literature. Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, Melbourne. Online: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/103401/
Fontaine, Claire R. 2004 Watching out for the Watchmen (Song 5:7): How I Hold Myself Accountable. In The Meanings We Choose, edited by Charles Cosgrove, 102–21. T&T Clark, London.
Fox, Michael V. 1985 The Song of Songs and the Egyptian Love Songs. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.
Garrett, Duane A. 1993 Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs. Broadman, Nashville, TN.
Gledhill, Tom 1994 The Message of the Song of Songs. IVP, Downers Grove, IL.
Glickman, Craig 2004 Solomon’s Song of Love: Let the Song of Songs Inspire Your Own Romantic Story. Howard, Brentwood, TN.
Gordis, Robert 1974 The Song of Songs and Lamentations: A Study, Modern Translation and Commentary. KTAV, New York.
Goulder, Michael 1987 Song of Fourteen Songs. Sheffield Academic, Sheffield.
Hess, Richard 2005 The Song of Songs. Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, MI.
Hill, Jess 2019 See What You Made Me Do: Power, Control and Domestic Abuse. Black Inc, Carlton, Vic.
Keel, Othmar 1994 The Song of Songs: A Continental Commentary. Fortress Press, Minneapolis.
Kristeva, Julia 1982 Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. Columbia University Press, New York.
Landy, Francis 1983 Paradoxes of Paradise: Identity and Difference in the Song of Songs. Almond Press, Sheffield.
Longman, Tremper, III 2001 Song of Songs. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI.
McGorrery, Paul, and Marilyn McMahon 2020 Criminalising Coercive Control: An Introduction. In Criminalising Coercive Control: Family Violence and the Criminal Law, edited by Marilyn McMahon and Paul McGorrery, 3–32. Springer, New York.
Mellman, Thomas A., Daniella David, Victoria Bustamante, Joseph Torres and Ana Fins 2001 Dreams in the Acute Aftermath of Trauma and Their Relationship to PTSD. Journal of Traumatic Stress 14(1): 241–47. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007812321136
Munro, Jill 1995 Spikenard and Saffron: The Imagery of the Song of Songs. Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield.
Murphy, Roland E. 1990 The Song of Songs: A Commentary on the Book of Canticles or the Song of Songs. Fortress Press, Minneapolis.
Niemi, Laura 2020 Victim Blaming. In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Psychology and Gender. Online: https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-psychology-and-gender/i17743.xml
Noonan, Andie 2018 Eurydice Dixon: Warnings over Personal Safety Spark Social Media Backlash. Online: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-15/warning-on-personal-safety-after-eurydice-dixon-death-criticised/9873588
NSW Government 2020 Coercive Control Discussion Paper. Online: http://www.crimeprevention.nsw.gov.au/domesticviolence/Pages/coercive-control-discussion-paper.aspx
Our Watch 2020 The Issue. Online: https://www.ourwatch.org.au/the-issue/
Polaski, Donald C. 1997 What Will Ye See in the Shulammite? Women, Power and Panopticism in the Song of Songs. Brill, Leiden.
Sessions, Erin Martine 2018 ‘Do Not Arouse or Awaken Love until It So Desires’: How Does the Song of Songs Speak to Australia’s Problem with Intimate Partner Violence? Crucible 9(1). Online: https://www.crucibleonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Sessions-Do-not-arouse-or-awaken-love-until-it-so-desires.pdf
Shepherd, Briana 2019 Domestic Violence and a Simple Tool Called the ‘No Test’ Could Identify an Abusive Partner. Online: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-31/how-the-no-test-could-help-prevent-domestic-violence/10764100
Sloane, Andrew 2012 Tamar’s Tears: Evangelical Engagements with Feminist Old Testament Hermeneutics. Pickwick Publications, Eugene, OR.
Smyth, Bruce, Lawrie Moloney, Jackie Brady, Joe Harman and Marian Esler 2020 COVID-19 and Separated Families. Online: https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2020/5/ANU_COVID-19_Issues_Paper_16May2020.pdf
Snaith, John G. 1993 The New Century Bible Commentary on the Song of Songs. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI.
Spencer, F. Scott 2016 The Song of Songs. Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN.
Stark, Evan 2007 Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Trible, Phyllis 1978 Love’s Lyrics Redeemed. In God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality, edited by Phyllis Trible, 144–65. Fortress Press, Philadelphia.
1984 Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives. Fortress Press, Philadelphia.
Truong, Mandy, M. Sharif, D. Pasalich, A. Olsen, B. Calabria and N. Priest 2020 Faith-based Communities’ Responses to Family and Domestic Violence. CSRM Working Paper No. 1. Online: https://plan4womenssafety.dss.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/faith-based_20200217.pdf
US Department of Human Services 2008 Critical Incident Reporting Policy. Online: https://www.nd.gov/dhs/info/pubs/mfp/docs/critical-incidents-reporting-policy.pdf
van Dijk-Hemmes, Fokkelien 1993 Traces of Women’s Texts in the Hebrew Bible. In On Gendering Texts: Female and Male Voices in the Hebrew Bible, edited by Athalya Brenner and Fokkelien van Dijk-Hemmes, 71–83. Brill, Leiden.