Thomas writes that “to signify something by words or merely by the construction of images . . . yields nothing but the literal sense” and “poetic images refer to something other than themselves only so as to signify them; and so a signification of that sort goes no way beyond the manner in which the literal sense signifies.” If I understand this, I’m not convinced.  First, because this seems to conflate meaning with signification, which I take to be equivalent... Read more

Denys Turner notes that the Song of Songs presented challenges to the “minority” of medieval theologians who argued for a more rigorous grounding of spiritual in literal senses.  For these, the text speaks literally, referring to specific events; and these events, as Thomas says, providentially typify future events. To qualify as a type, though, an event would not only have to have some formal similarity to the fulfillment in Christ, but should participate in the history that leads to Christ.... Read more