Reference Publications

Quinn-Miscall, Peter D. Reading Isaiah: Poetry and Vision. - book review

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Spring, 2003 by John F. Craghan

London, UK/ Louisville, KY/ Leiden, The Netherlands: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. Pp. vii 224. $19.95

The "traditional" way of considering the Book of Isaiah is to follow the lead of Bernhard Duhm and thus divide the work into three sections: First Isaiah or Isaiah of Jerusalem (1-39); Second Isaiah (40-55); and Third Isaiah (55-66). Thus one moves from the Assyrian crisis of the late eighth century BCE to the Babylonian invasion with the destruction of Judah in the early sixth century BCE to the reconstruction of the community with leaders coming from Babylon in the last half of the sixth into the fifth century BCE. In this approach the interpreter seeks to understand passages in the light of a specific historical period and, if possible, specific events and people.

The tendency today is to read Isaiah as one book. Without denying the historical complexity of this biblical work Quinn-Miscall states: "There is one book, one Isaiah, and not three" (p. 3). For the author the book is essentially a retrospective on Israel's history during the periods mentioned above. More specifically, the book is a vision, a grand poem that embraces God, the entire world, humanity, and the movement of history from creation on. What results is the description of an ideal world, a dream world (p. 20). One may thus appropriately describe the entire book "as a collage or as variations on themes" (p. 38). It is, for this author, a world in which everything is related and interconnected.

Quinn-Miscall does not intend to give a final and definitive appraisal of the book for the reader. His intent, rather, is more exploratory and directional:

   My goal is to lead, my readers into the
   vision and world of Isaiah, to give them
   initial directions on what to look for and
   how to treat it, and then leave it to them
   to explore this world ... [p. 107].

While the author divides his work into five principal sections (nature of the book, themes, imagery, characters, and the Lord's holy mountain), it is the treatment of imagery that captures much of the reader's attention. (This treatment is actually scattered throughout the book.) The author compares/contrasts images without attention to their specific contexts. He notes that Isaiah varies images throughout the book by looking at different aspects of them. While in 56:3 the image of the tree is one of misery, that same image in 65:22 is one of life. The use of bird imagery is also instructive. In 10:14 birds depict the helplessness of the people before the king of Assyria; in 38:14 Hezekiah describes his distress as the moaning of a dove. However, in 40:31 those waiting for the Lord will soar like eagles; in 60:8 the children of Jerusalem return flying like doves.

Quinn-Miscall's contribution is to introduce the reader to the thought world and poetry imagery of this challenging biblical book. He leads such a reader to an appreciation of the book's vision. However, this work does not eliminate the need for the "traditional" historic-critical approach. It is, rather, complementary. One does not exclude the other, so that it is ultimately a question of both/and, not either/or.