Opening the Sealed Book: Interpretations of the Book of Isaiah in Late Antiquity [Paperback]

Joseph Blenkinsopp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2006

A striking scholarly appraisal of the history of Isaiah interpretation

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About the Author

Joseph Blenkinsopp is John A. O'Brien Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at the University of Notre Dame. His other books include The Pentateuch: An Introduction to the First Five Books of the Bible, A History of Prophecy in Israel, and the three-volume Anchor Bible commentary on Isaiah.

Product Details

• Paperback: 315 pages
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (November 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802840213
• ISBN-13: 978-0802840219
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,589,658 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Difficult Book, Difficult Subject, December 19, 2011

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B. Marold "Bruce W. Marold" (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Opening the Sealed Book: Interpretations of the Book of Isaiah in Late Antiquity (Paperback)

Opening the Sealed Book by Joseph Blenkinsopp. A review of the printed edition.

This is a difficult book on a difficult subject. As a dedicated reader of subtitles, I encourage you to take this one very seriously. It is NOT a comment on Isaiah, but on the way Isaiah was seen by the early Christians and by the Rabbis. For Isaiah itself Blenkinsopp has written one of the best technical commentaries on the book in the Yale Anchor Bible series.

On top of two difficult subjects is the fact that Blenkinsopp's style of writing is not exactly lucid. I had at least three sessions where I read about 70 pages of text each evening and I came away not really having any good idea of what I read. But, this is a really important topic for those who study both early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. Isaiah was central to both movements which evolved out of second Temple Judaism (515 BCE to 70 CE), which took the Torah as its guiding light.

Before Christianity, Isaiah was central to the thinking of the Qumran community (the souce of the Dead Sea scrolls). Two virtually complete copies of Isaiah were found there. In the New Testament, Isaiah is quoted by name more than any other source, and only the Psalms are close to in in overall references. In Luke, it is by reading Isaiah that Jesus begins his ministry by reading Isaiah. So, this is an important topic. Even more so because the two key inheritors of Isaiah took it in two different directions.

The book is a lesson in sectarianism. A central thesis of the book is that Christianity arose and succeeded because it was a period when Judaism was split into several different sects, each with a different agenda they are bringing to their interpretations. Possibly the most interesting twist is Blenkinsopp's thesis that what was left of "mainstream" Judaism after 70 CE was to preopt the interpretation of Isaiah as the typical "man of God" who goes around preaching, healing, and doing a few miracles, around his biographical passages, in order to suppress the two other main themes in the book of Isaiah, critique of social injustice (a common theme among prophets) and apocalyptic visions of the final intervention of God in the world (see Peacable Kingdom).

Note that Christianity "took off" on the wings of the apocalyptic Isaiah, until the sense that the "second coming" was not going to happen tomorrow set in, and Isaiah's social justice teachings became more important.

If you do not have a passing familiarity with Jewish factions before Christ and intertestamental writings, you may get lost in this book. I can only promise that if you choose to diligently work your way through this difficult subject, you will be rewarded by being guided by a major expert on the subject.