Solomon's Song of Love by Dr. Craig Glickman Search Amazon for other books by or about Dr. Craig Glickman. Rating: Reviewed by: John L. Hoh, Jr.

When I went to a Lutheran seminary, we had a class called "Isagogics." Basically it's a fancy word that means "to lead into." This course differed from Exegesis, which is a fancy word that means "to draw out." The first is a basic overview study of a book of the Bible in one's native tongue; the latter is an in-depth look at a book of the Bible in its original Greek or Hebrew. In Isagogics we were assigned books to report orally to the class on. One book I was assigned was the Song Of Songs (or the Song of Solomon).

To be sure, I was somewhat disappointed in what commentaries said about the Song (even Luther's commentary). It just seemed that most commentators wanted to tap-dance around what the book said and assign it as a purely allegorical picture of Christ and the Church. Maybe, but there is also the basic, immediate meaning that needs to be addressed.

In my research I learned that the Song was read every Passover when Jesus was on earth and for centuries before that. Quick, how many sermons have you heard based on the Song lately? That's what I thought. (I did preach one sermon on the Song a few years ago.)

Dr. Glickman has taken this wonderful Song and given it a Christian application for courtship, the wedding, and marriage in general. In reading the book one gets the sense that Dr. Glickman viewed the writing of this book as a labor of love (pun fully intended). He refers to contemporary pop culture love songs, his own marriage, the marriages of others (you'll love the tales he tells of the colonel's wife!), and marriage in general. Along the way he weaves similarities he finds in the Song to prominent figures in Israel's history. And he doesn't shy away from the "anatomical references!" I enjoyed his fresh approach to the Song in general and to those references in particular.

This book should be used for pre-marital counseling, marriage enrichment seminars, and, I dare say, teen groups. With the teen groups, however, the leader might want to facilitate the presence of parents. Sexuality is a topic that should be familial. It is difficult to share such feelings, but Dr. Glickman relates the awkwardness his parents and he had about the subject and I believe in reading about this awkwardness parents and teens can find a common starting point to discuss this wonderful gift God has given us. As Dr. Glickman says, sex is not an evil tolerated by marriage but a gift protected by it.