Book Notice: John Goldingay on Theology of Isaiah

John Goldingay

The Theology of the Book of Isaiah
Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2014.
Available at Amazon.com

It was good to take into some serious Isaiah studies for once and this book did not disappoint. Goldingay’s book works in two parts, first, looking at the “theologies” of Isaiah, particularly Isaiah 1-12, 13-27, 28-39, 40-55, 56-66. Then, second, looking at the theology that emerges from Isaiah. So a serious attempt to grapple with the theological diversity and unity of the book. Goldingay provides a good scheme for understanding the structure of Isaiah. He also makes notes on NT use of Isaiah. I esp. liked his explanation of Matthew’s use of Isa 7:14:

Isaiah’s promise about a girl having a baby whose birth would signify that God was with his people in the crisis they were going through was not a promise about something to happen in seven centuries’ time, nor was it a prophecy about a girl who would still be a virgin when she had her baby, nor about a baby would would turnout to be the very embodiment of God. No regular Jewish interpretation in Jesus’ day would have understood the passage to refer to the Messiah. But when Jesus was born of someone who was actually still a virgin and when he turned out to be the very embodiment of God, Matthew’s eyes popped when he noted that prophecy in Isaiah. It helped him put a label onto realities that the early Christians knew and to see them in the context of the scriptural story. Something similar is true about the other passages quoted above, and other passages in the New Testament that refer back to Isaiah. (pp. 34-35).

I like how he explains Isa 42.6/49.6:

In other words, the covenant relationship between Yahweh and Israel and the way Yahweh shone his light of blessing in Israels’ life was designed to become a revelation to other peoples, a means of opening their eyes and releasing them from darkness (p. 65).

On God as “Holy, holy, holy” in the heavenly throne scene in Isaiah 6, he says:

The seraphs’ reticence, covering their faces, the shaking of the doorframe, the smoke filling the house, all combined to underline the scene’s awe, and thus the significance of the declaration that Yahweh is not merely once holy, or twice holy, but thrice holy; mot merely holy, or very holy, but utterly holy. These accompaniments and reactions also point to the significance of the notion of holiness. In itself is not a moral category but a metaphysical one. To be holy is to belong to a different realm from every day, the worldly, the human, the created, the this-worldly. It is to belong to the heavenly realm, the supernatural world. By definition, beings such as gods and angels are holy, whether or not they are very moral. To say that Yahweh is thrice-holy is to say that Yahweh is the ultimate in the supernatural, the extraordinary, the uncreated, heavenly. It reporting the threefold cry, Isaiah is not referring to God’s own threefold nature, but one can see how the cry would be open to being appropriated and built on when the idea of God being Father, Son and Holy Spirit was articulated (pp. 97-98).

A great book on Isaiah for those beginning the perilous journey of trying to wrestle with one of the foremost books of the OT and the most cited book of the NT.