Overview

Isaiah's servant songs reveal a true and better Adam In Charged with the Glory of God, Caroline Batchelder provides a synchronic, theological, and canonical reading of the four Servant Songs in Isaiah (42:1–9; 49:1–13; 50:3–11; 52:13–53:12), showing how they relate to one another and the message of the prophetic book. Reading Isaiah as a compositional unity in conversation with other texts such as Genesis results in a coherent presentation of the mysterious servant. The polemic against idolatry reveals rebellious Israel to be false imagers of God. In contrast, Isaiah's servant is an ideal embodiment of Yahweh's image and likeness. Thus, the servant is a paradigm for those who wish to recapture and realize God's good creation purposes for all humanity. The servant poems are not only a call to reorient oneself as a servant towards God and his creation, but also a map and means for doing so. In this study, Batchelder offers fresh insights from Isaiah for understanding God's true image and its idolatrous counterfeits.

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9781683594093

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Reviews

This meticulous study is laced through with intriguing proposals, and exquisitely illuminates Isaiah's poetic cadences and wordplays. I will certainly order it for the library and recommend it to my students. A valuable read for anyone interested in Isaiah, idolatry, or imaging God in the world. --Jill Firth, Ridley College A beautiful and provocative reimagining of Yahweh's image in Isaiah's servant. --Jacqueline N. Grey, Alphacrucis University College A thoroughly stimulating study that gives both a greater appreciation of the work of the Servant of the Lord, and an appeal to see Isaiah's challenge to readers to be servants in the Lord's likeness. --Anthony R. Petterson, Morling College

Author Information

Caroline Batchelder (ThD, Australian College of Theology) was lecturer in Old Testament at Alphacrucis College in Parramatta, Australia.

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