Dr Katie Heffelfinger on Second Isaiah
The C of I notes in today’s Irish Times report that Dr Heffelfinger, who is Lecturer in Biblical Studies and Hermeneutics at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute , has published the fruits of her postgraduate research at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, as I am large, I contain multitudes. Lyric cohesion and conflict in Second Isaiah.
This book joins the notion that Second Isaiah is a poetic text with the task of interpreting it as a unified whole. In so doing, it makes methodological suggestions for applying a lyric poetic approach to biblical texts. The practical application of this approach shows Second Isaiah to be characterized by tension, conflict, and juxtaposition. The lyric model shows these conflicts, such as the presence of searing indictments in the ‘book of comfort,’ to be integral elements of the mode by which Second Isaiah addresses its audience. This book highlights the tonalities of the divine voice as central to Second Isaiah’s particularly poetic mode of cohesion and essential to the conflicted comfort Second Isaiah offers its reader.
The book should appeal to those interested the interpretation of Second Isaiah, biblical Hebrew poetry, literary representations of divine speech, and lyric poetic analysis and is appropriate for biblical scholars, theologians, students, and seminarians.
I am large, I am multitudes has been published by the respected Dutch publisher, Brill, at the challenging price of €119 but, due to the generosity of the author, is also available on loan to members of the Representative Church Body Library