Rhetoric ad Social Justice in Isaiah applies a literary methodology to the book of Isaiah in order critically to explore the nature and sources of the social justice encoded in the world created by the text. After a close reading of Isaiah 1: 16, 17, Gray establishes grounds for a trajectory to Isaiah 58, preparatory to examining if it offers a deepening of the concept of social justice in the Isaianic corpus. Gray raises the issue of divine reliability to assess the impact on the theme of social justice of the rhetoric of universal punishment by the divine/prophetic voice. He evaluates the ways the stark Isaianic dichotomy between reliance on God and anything of human origin is affected by trust in God being destabilized: if trust in God is demonstrated to be difficult on account of legitimate doubts about divine justice, then the way is opened for retaining an active human role in the search for justice. Gray demonstrates the ways that social justice attains primacy in Isaiah, the ways that humanity if given a role in pursuing social justice, and the ways that Isaiah 58 impinges upon the idea of social justice within the book as a whole.
Author(s): Mark Gray
Series: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 432
Publisher: T & T Clark International
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 316
RHETORIC AND SOCIAL JUSTICE IN ISAIAH......Page 4
Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgments......Page 8
Abbreviations......Page 10
1. "Only the Text"......Page 12
2. The Revival of Rhetoric......Page 14
3. Dimensions of Rhetorical Analysis......Page 17
4. Before the (Deconstructive) Flood: Reading with the Grain......Page 21
5. The Necessary Reader......Page 23
6. Poststructuralism: Text, Deconstruction, World......Page 24
7. Ethics, Justice, Mission......Page 27
1. Talking about Justice......Page 30
2. Recent Approaches to the Book of Isaiah......Page 36
3. Isaiah 1 as Prologue......Page 37
4. Isaiah 1:16—17—Rhetorical Overview......Page 39
5. Cultic Worship and Justice......Page 41
6. The Possibility of Cleansing......Page 43
7. Schooled in Seeking in Justice......Page 46
8. Rhetorical Strategy: Widening Justice......Page 49
9. Chanty, Not Justice: Exodus Betrayed......Page 55
10. Isaiah 58 as an Integrated Unit......Page 61
11. Links between Isaiah 1 and 58......Page 63
12. The Issue of Religious Observance......Page 64
13. The Theme of Healing Wounds......Page 66
14. Wider Patterns of Connection......Page 69
15. Hints of the Unreliability of God?......Page 72
16. The Gains of Redactional Criticism......Page 75
17. Cycles of Injustice?......Page 79
1. Isaiah 58:9: The Rhetorical Pivot......Page 83
2. Isaiah 58:6-7: The Content of Social Justice......Page 85
3. Extending Freedom......Page 88
4. Isaiah 58:7: A Standard Ethical Injunction?......Page 92
5. The Range and Nature of Justice in Isaiah 58......Page 98
6. Justice in Persia's Shadow......Page 102
7. Isaiah 5 8:9 a: The fly of Pain in the Ointment of Blessing......Page 104
8. The Rhetorical Pattern of Isaiah 58:6-10......Page 105
9. Crying Out: The Depth of Pain......Page 106
10. Isaiah 58:9a in Context......Page 110
1 I.Isaiah 58:6-10: A Theologically Challenging Minority Voice......Page 115
12. A Common Humanity: Exodus Modified......Page 118
13. The Theory of the Rise of Apocalyptic......Page 120
Isaiah 58 and the Pattern of Biblical Prayer......Page 122
14. The Challenge to Exclusivism......Page 125
1 . Questioning Assumptions, Generating Meaning......Page 129
2. Certitude beyond All Reasonable Doubt?......Page 131
3. Divine Justice and Divine Wrath: Easy Bedfellows?......Page 134
4. Methodological Considerations......Page 138
5. Isaiah 9:16 (ET v. 17): Preliminary Rhetorical Remarks......Page 142
6. Hints of Instability in Meaning......Page 145
7. The Fatherless and Widows Not Pitied......Page 148
8. Ungodliness, Justice, and Divine Reliability......Page 157
9. Godlessness and Senselessness: Job as the Lens......Page 165
10. Heads, Tails, and Textual Uncertainty......Page 173
11. The Attribution of Guilt in the Opening Chapters of Isaiah......Page 176
12. Indeterminacy as a Hermeneutical Principle......Page 184
1. The Untrustworthy Nature of Man......Page 190
2. A Voice of Protest in Favor of Humanity......Page 194
3. Isaiah 36 and the Theme of Trust......Page 197
4. The Challenge of Trust......Page 204
5. Trust and the Shaping of Isaiah......Page 209
6. The Coercive God of a Coercive Text?......Page 213
7. The Confessions of God: Isaiah 40:1-2......Page 218
8. The Lens of Literary Theory......Page 222
9. The Confessions of God: Isaiah 54:6-7......Page 225
10. Isaiah and the Conversion of God?......Page 230
11. In Critical Dialogue with Croatto......Page 233
12. In Critical Dialogue with Soulen......Page 235
13. In Critical Dialogue with Cruchley-Jones......Page 239
14. Conclusion: The Nature of Metaphor......Page 242
1. Turning Away from God......Page 246
2. A Farewell to Arms?......Page 251
3. Justice and the Role of Isaiah 58:6-10......Page 256
4. Isaiah 58:6-10 and Derrida's Concept of Justice......Page 263
5. Liminality as a Function of Text......Page 265
6. Finally. . . Come the Poets......Page 274
Bibliography......Page 277
Index of References......Page 302
B......Page 311
F......Page 312
K......Page 313
M......Page 314
S......Page 315
W......Page 316
Z......Page 317
