Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T15:50:10.930Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

20 - The Reception History of Isaiah

Unsealing the Book

from Part IV - Afterlives of the Book of Isaiah

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2024

By
Brennan Breed
Edited by
Christopher B. Hays
Christopher B. Hays
Affiliation:
Fuller Theological Seminary, California
Get access

Summary

Brennan Breed’s “The Reception History of Isaiah: Unsealing the Book” takes a single theme attested in just a few verses (Isa 8:16; 29:11; and 30:8) and shows how it has been reinterpreted by readers ceaselessly across the centuries, all the way from later biblical authors to modern times, in response to everything from sectarian divisions to African-American slavery to the trauma of the Holocaust. These verses refer to the words of the prophet being sealed, especially to those who are ignorant, until the time comes for their meaning to be revealed. This theme brings into focus the ways in which Isaiah has been used polemically, and it also points to the text’s power as a seemingly inexhaustible well of meaning.

Keywords

receptionJewishChristianinterpretationrevelationsealed book
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to the Book of Isaiah , pp. 326 - 344
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further Reading

Childs, Brevard S. The Struggle to Understand Isaiah as Christian Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004.Google Scholar
Holladay, William L. Unbound by Time, Isaiah Still Speaks. Cambridge, MA: Cowley, 2002.Google Scholar
Laato, Antii. Who Is the Servant of the Lord? Jewish and Christian Interpretations on Isaiah 53 from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Studies in Rewritten Bible 4. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2012.Google Scholar
McGinnis, Claire Mathews, and Tull, Patricia K, eds. “As Those Who Are Taught”: The Interpretation of Isaiah from the LXX to the SBL. SBL Symposium Series 27. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006.Google Scholar
Porton, Gary. “Isaiah and the Kings: The Rabbis on the Prophet Isaiah.” Pages 693–716 in Writing and Reading the Scroll of Isaiah, volume 2. Edited by Boyles, C. C. and Evans, C. A.. Leiden: Brill, 1997.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sawyer, John F. A. The Fifth Gospel: Isaiah in the History of Christianity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.Google Scholar
Scherman, Nosson. Isaiah: The Later Prophets with a Commentary Anthologized from the Rabbinic Writings. Milstein Edition. New York: Mesorah, 2013.Google Scholar
Lena-Sofia, Tiemeyer, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Isaiah. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.Google Scholar
Robert L., Wilken, ed. Isaiah: Interpreted by Early Christian and Medieval Commentators. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×