14. Scriptures treats finitude in both positive and negative ways. The positive, for example, in the Song of Songs, for the erotic, including sexual desire, can exist only in a finite world, where there is an "other" to be desired and enjoyed. Indeed, God's passion for us, giving rise to creation and to the whole long story of God's seeking to make this passion known to us and to awaken our love for God—this is most readily expressed, for finite beings, in erotic terms. It should be no surprise, then, that for centuries the Song was a central text for both Jewish and Christian readers, though it fell strangely out of favor in the era of self-conscious modernity—a topic to be considered further at another time.