What is love? Dr. Mark Gignilliat fromBeeson Divinity School, joins us today teaching on the book of Song of Solomon, also called Song of Songs.

This book of lyrical poetry is a collection of 10 simple poems, where the couple speaking are freely describing their marital intimacy with joy and freedom. Song of Songs gives us a biblical example of God’s beautiful gift of physical intimacy in marriage for a husband and wife. This kind of love is a foretaste of the eternal love we will experience in heaven.

Medieval theologian Bernard of Clairvaux had this to say about Song of Solomon, “If anyone desires to grasp these writings, then he needs to love. For anyone who does not love, it is vain to listen to this Song of love, or to read it, for a cold heart cannot catch fire from its eloquence.”

Dr. Mark Gignilliat isprofessor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School, where he teaches courses in Old Testament and Hebrew, and also serves as Canon Theologian at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham. Dr. Gignilliat is married to Naomi, and they have four children.