G.A. Smith (1856-1942) became principle of the University of Aberdeen, an internationally famous lecturer and preacher as well. His Expositor’s Bible commentaries first on the Book of the Twelve and then on Isaiah were enormously popular and influential, not least because of their elegant prose, detailed learning, and also moving theological reflection. While Smith’s linguistic skills were good, his real gift was in offering analysis of the prophetic structures, the poetic style and metrical cadence and on the basis of... Read more

JOB DESCRIPTION When comfort turns to torment And solace leads to pain Then Job will find his master and Receive his life again. When ashes without number Burn on the funeral pyre Then suffering is consumed And an end is made through fire. Yet through the fire a figure Stands golden, purified The one who once was taunted Has now been justified. Not through the will of mortals Nor through the countless saints Can come the vindication Of Job’s quite... Read more

T.K. Cheyne (1841-1915) was a professor at Oxford who began with rather conservative views about Isaiah and the OT (partly under the influence of Delitzsch), and ended much less so. At first his work just focused on rather uncontroversial attention to historical, philological, text critical issues. He says the authorship of Is. 40-66 is an open question. By 1889, he is talking in the following way—there is a foreshadowing of Christ in Isaiah. They are not conscious prophecies. There is... Read more

F. Delitzsch (1813-90) was indeed a major commentator on Isaiah and other OT books and he spent much of his life learning and interacting with rabbinic literature on the Bible. He was involved in a project to translate the NT into Hebrew, and his knowledge of Judaism was profound. He was an orthodox Lutheran who wrote volumes on messianism, and was a confessional Christian theologian. Delitzsch agreed with Hoffmann about Heilsgeschichte encompassing both the OT and the NT, culminating in... Read more

BEN: Anne you wrote ‘Out of Egypt’ some time ago. Were you surprised when someone decided the time was now to make a movie of it? ANNE: Actually there was movie interest almost from the beginning. Cyrus Nowrasteh came along with his offer after other negotiations did not work out, and it took Cyrus several years to get the movie off the ground, due to financial difficulties. Cyrus was marvelously patient and so were other members of the team. Making... Read more

Today, when the film ‘the Young Messiah’ premiered, I was there, with about 10 other people to see it. If you have recently seen the film ‘Risen’ the similarities between the two films will immediately strike you– both focus on a centurion in quest to find Jesus (or in ‘Risen’, Jesus’ body), and both centurions discover more than they bargained for. I’m quite sure these films were independently done, so the parallels can be called either serendipity or accidental. In... Read more

I’m pleased to announce my second series of Bible Study/ Small Group/ Sunday School 12 week studies published by Seedbed. You’ll want to go to the Seedbed site (most easily found on the banner on the home page at www.asburyseminary.edu) to order the hard copies, and the DVD that goes with it. It turned out well. This is the follow up to the One Book study I did on The Gospel of John. Let me know what you think when... Read more

J. Knabenbauer was a conservative Catholic commentator of the second half of the 19th century who did a good job of interacting with the church fathers, and having a balanced approach to the exegetical and theological substance of Isaiah. He argues well for the literary coherence of Is. 1-39 and thinks that Judah had undergone enough destruction and chaos that the historical Isaiah could have written Is. 40-66. He attempts to refute the arguments for two Isaiahs. {Interesting side note,... Read more

The early nineteenth century was characterized by work on the OT including Isaiah that rejected or ignored the Christian tradition of interpretation of the OT, and relied instead on growing knowledge of the ANE as a clue to the meaning of all sorts of words in the OT. It was also a period in which increasingly rationalistic approaches were taken to the miraculous in the text, and the problems of seeing a unity in the whole book of Isaiah in... Read more

A. Calmet (1672-1757) was a Catholic traditionalist, that both Protestant and Catholic exegetes lauded in the eighteenth century (including high praise from Adam Clarke who said he was the best commentator Protestant or Catholic). Calmet focuses on the literal historical meaning of the text, which he sees as the basis of all else. This doesn’t mean just a focus on words and grammar, but on the substance and meaning of the text. He sees the text as having a double... Read more