Poetry, Prophecy, Hermeneutic: Recent Studies in Isaiah

Abstract

There is seldom a lack of new studies of Isaiah. In this article I want to mention some aspects of a few recently published studies which direct our attention in different ways to the book of Isaiah, rather than to Isaiah of Jerusalem (or the so-called ‘second Isaiah’) as an individual with an historical role. Not that I am not concerned with the historical Isaiah of Jerusalem: in fact the concern is greater than the following reviews might suggest. Positively I am insisting that our quest for him must start from the book of Isaiah in all its variety and complexity, and not from its few familiar and congenially informative prose sections. Then the more negative suggestion that Isaiah may not have been a ‘prophet’ (at least in the sense that tradition came to regard him) is an attempt to clear the ground for a better point of view.

Historical Overview of the Old Testament Prophecy and Prophetism: Its Application to the 21st Century Church

“…These studies shed some light on the prophetic experience, but the reader is left to decide the most appropriate and satisfying ones. 37 Many believe that various Old Testament scholars have given the impression that the prophets of old were possessed by frenzy or mania in which their normal faculties were suspended. However, is no authority to compare the Hebrew or Christian prophets with the heathen soothsayer (the mantis) who worked himself into a religious frenzy, attempting to favor his observers by undergoing some spirit transport.…”

Hearsay, Bad Character and Trust in the Jury: Irish and English Contrasts

“…The Review criticised the common law rule for creating a vacuum in which triers of fact engaged in 'prejudicial speculation'. 84 As with hearsay, the Labour government in its White Paper vowed to amend the law to make character evidence admissible in a broader range of circumstances than those which pertained at common law. 85…”