Overview

This book joins the notion that Second Isaiah is a poetic text with the task of interpreting it as a unified whole. In so doing, it makes methodological suggestions for applying a lyric poetic approach to biblical texts. The practical application of this approach shows Second Isaiah to be characterized by tension, conflict, and juxtaposition. The lyric model shows these conflicts, such as the presence of searing indictments in the ‘book of comfort,’ to be integral elements of the mode by which Second Isaiah addresses its audience. This book highlights the tonalities of the divine voice as central to Second Isaiah’s particularly poetic mode of cohesion and essential to the conflicted comfort Second Isaiah offers its reader.

Full Product Details

Author:   Katie Heffelfinger
Publisher:   Brill
Imprint:   Brill
Volume:   105
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.699kg
ISBN:  

9789004193833

ISBN 10:   9004193839
Pages:   328
Publication Date:   15 February 2011
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Chapter One: Introduction: The Role of Poetry in the Interpretation of Second Isaiah 1. History of Scholarship 2. Explaining the Neglect of Lyric Poetic Tools 3. Proposal and Plan Chapter Two: Second Isaiah and Lyric Tools 1. Defining Lyric 2. A Word About Anachronism 3. Assessing Second Isaiah as Lyric 3.1. Characteristic One: Second Isaiah’s Units as Non-Narrative 3.2. Characteristic Two: Second Isaiah’s Units and Vocality, Musicality, and Tropological Density 3.3. Summary: Second Isaiah’s Units as Lyric Poems 4. Tools for Reading Lyric Poetry 4.1. Lyric Sequencing as Lens for Reading Lyric Collections 4.2. Disjunction as Significant and Meaningful 4.3. The Significance of Voice 4.4. The Centrality of Emotion 5. Conclusion Chapter Three: The Problem of Comfort: Second Isaiah’s Rhetorical Environment and its Intractable Problem 1. Situating Second Isaiah 2. Indications of Exigence within Second Isaiah 2.1 Identifying Second Isaiah’s Intended Audience 2.2. Embedded Speeches as Indicators of Rhetorical Environment – The Audience’s perspective 2.3. Allusions as Indicators of Rhetorical Environment 3. The Tension Between the People’s Complaint and the Divine Response 3.1. An Opening Announcement of the Intention to Comfort: Isaiah 40: 1-2 3.2. Further Expressions of the Comfort Theme 4. The Tension Between Comfort and Indictment 4.1. The Divine Voice and Past Rage 4.2. Divine Rage and Present Threat 5. Comfort as Intractable Problem 6. Conclusion Chapter Four: A Paratactic-Cohesive Whole: Lyric Unity in Second Isaiah 1. Tension and Balance: Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces 2. Centrifugal Forces and Disjunction in Second Isaiah 2.1. Parataxis and Its Impact 2.2. Concrete References 2.3. Lack of Terminal Closure 3. Ambivalent Forces in Second Isaiah 3.1. Second Isaiah’s Lack of Clear Boundary Markers 3.2. Second Isaiah’s Lexical Recurrences and Thematic Threads 4. Centripetal Forces and Cohesion in Second Isaiah 4.1. Mirrored Passages 4.2. Dominance of the Divine Voice 5. Second Isaiah’s Balance Point and the Significance of the Divine Speaking Voice 6. Cohesion in Prior Scholarship 7. Voice as ‘Unstable’ Unity Chapter Five: Tonal Tension and Resolution in the Divine Speaking Voice 1. Determining the Tonalities of the Divine Voice in Second Isaiah 1.1. Major Stream 1: Compassionate Comfort 1.2. Major Stream 2: Righteous Indignation with Accusation and Disputation 1.3. Major Stream 3: Majestically Supreme Confidence 1.4. Juxtaposition as Tonal Indicator throughout Second Isaiah 1.5. The Interplay of Tonal Streams in the Divine Voice 2. Tracing the Flow of Tonalities in the Divine Voice 2.1. Survey of Second Isaiah’s Tonal Flow 2.2. An Opening Announcement of Comfort – Isaiah 40:1-2 2.3. The Confidence of the Creator – Isaiah 42:5-9 2.4. Sinners in the Hands of an Obliterating God – Isaiah 43:22-28 2.5. Your Name is Transgressor – Isaiah 48:1-11 2.6. Indelibly Engraved – Isaiah 49:14-50:3 2.7. A “Rebuking Consolation” – Isaiah 51:12-16 2.8. The Climax of Comfort – Isaiah 54:1-17a 3. Summary of Tonal Flow: The Progression of Tonalities and the Resolution of Their Tension 4. Tonal Flow and the Intractable Problem 4.1. Contributions of the Comfort Tonality 4.2. Contributions of the Indictment Tonality 4.3. Contributions of the Confidence Tonality 5. Rhetorical Impact and Implications for Second Isaiah’s ‘Message’ Chapter 6: Conclusion 1. Summary of Argument 2. Significance of these Findings 2.1. The Question of Second Isaiah’s Meaningful Arrangement 2.2. Methodological Contributions 2.3. Addressing Critical Problems in Second Isaiah 3. Avenues for Further Research. 4. Conclusion Appendix 1: Motif Recurrences in Second Isaiah Appendix 2: Speaking Voices in Second Isaiah Appendix 3: Chart of the Tonalities of the Divine Voice in Second Isaiah Appendix 4: Sequence of Poems in Second Isaiah and Tonal Descriptions of Each Bibliography

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Author Information

Katie M. Heffelfinger, Ph.D. (2009) in Hebrew Bible, Emory University, is Lecturer in Biblical Studies and Hermeneutics at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute.

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