Theological Interpretation and Isaiah 53: A Critical Comparison of Bernhard Duhm, Brevard Childs, and Alec Motyer

Description

This study brings together the hermeneutical approaches of three Old Testament scholars, specifically as they pertain to the interpretation of Isaiah 52.13-53.12 in the framework of Christian theology. Contemporary discourse and hermeneutical discussions have led to the development of a point of confusion in theological hermeneutics, focusing on what relationship older frames of reference may have with those more recent. Bernhard Duhm is presented as a history-of-Religion scholar who does not easily abide by popular understandings of that school. Brevard Childs moves outward from particular historical judgments regarding the nature of redaction and form criticism, attempting to arrive at a proximately theological reading of the poem. Alec Motyer’s evangelical commitments represent a large constituency of contemporary theological readership, and a popular understanding of Isaiah 53. Following a summary and critical engagement of each interpreter on his own terms, the study analyzes the use of rhetoric behind the respective readings of Isaiah 53, and proposes theological reading as a highly eclectic undertaking, distanced from the demarcations of ‘pre-critical’, ‘critical’, and ‘post-critical’. Cover Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations INTRODUCTION 1. Theological Interpretation and “Historie” 2. Why Isaiah 53? 3. The Three Interpreters: Duhm, Childs, and Motyer 4. The Shape of the Study Chapter 1: BERNHARD DUHM, THEOLOGICAL HERMENEUTICS AND ISAIAH 1. Duhm’s Heritage 2. Locating Duhm’s Hermeneutics a. The Hermeneutics of Theologie der Propheten b. The Hermeneutics of Israels Propheten 3. Das Buch Jesaia a. The Contribution of Jesaia b. The Shape of Jesaia Chapter 2: BERNHARD DUHM AND ISAIAH 53 1. Approaching Isaiah 53: The Knecht Jahwes After the Ebed-Jahwe-Lieder 2. Isaiah 53: “Die vierte Dichtung über den Knecht Jahwes” Chapter 3: BREVARD CHILDS, THEOLOGICAL HERMENEUTICS AND ISAIAH 1. The Text “Itself” a. The Chronicler b. The Psalms c. The Prophets 2. The Text and/in the Church a. Childs and Yeago: Appropriating Trinitarian Categories b. Childs and Allegory: From “Ontological Plane” to Trinitarian “Res” 3. Isaiah as Exemplary: “The Brittle Quality of the Present Literary Structure” a. The Book of Isaiah b. Chapters 1–39 c. Deutero-Isaiah d. Trito-Isaiah Chapter 4: BREVARD CHILDS AND ISAIAH 53 1. The Text “Itself” 2. The Text and/in the Church Chapter 5: ALEC MOTYER, THEOLOGICAL HERMENEUTICS AND ISAIAH 1. Motyer and Evangelical Hermeneutics a. Beginning with Jesus b. Inspiration, Revelation, and Propositional Content c. “Long-term Prophecy” d. Structurism and Literary Unity 2. Structurism and Single Authorship in Isaiah a. Structurism b. Single Authorship Chapter 6: ALEC MOTYER AND ISAIAH 53 1. Contextualizing Isaiah 53 2. Isaiah 53 a. Enigma (52:13–15) b. Revelation (53:1–9) c. The Servant Triumphant (53:10–12) Chapter 7: CONCLUSION: HERMENEUTICS AND ISAIAH 53 1. On Isaiah 53 a. Revisiting Duhm’s Hermeneutics b. Revisiting Childs’s Hermeneutics c. Revisiting Motyer’s Hermeneutics 2. The Struggle of Hermeneutics and Isaiah 53 a. Duhm and the Growth of Prophetic Tradition b. Childs, Exegesis, and the Struggle of “Ontic” Reading (1) Exegesis (2) Hermeneutics c. Motyer and “Penal Substitutionary Atonement” (1) Exegesis (2) Hermeneutics and “Historie” 3. Rhetorical Distanciation and Shared Interpretive Structures a. Rhetorical Distanciation and the Problem of Interlocutors (1) “Supernaturalists” (2) “Anthropocentrics” (3) “Rationalists” (4) The Cracking of the Walls b. Shared Interpretive Structures and Interests in Isaiah 53 (1) Duhm and Childs—Hermeneutics and Discrimina (2) Duhm and Motyer—Hermeneutics and Discrimina (3) Childs and Motyer—Hermeneutics and Discrimina (a) “Immediate Referentiality” (b) “Multi-Leveled Reading.” (4) Duhm, Childs, and Motyer—Text Criticism as Basis for Loci EPILOGUE Bibliography Index of References Index of Authors