The Fifth Gospel : Isaiah in the History of Christianity

Rating:
Summary: Superb exploration of history of interpretation.
Review: The history of a text's interpretation (or its reception) is at long last being taken seriously as a vital aspect of interpreting it. Sawyer here delivers on his long-awaited promise to pursue such a line of enquiry with respect to the book of Isaiah. As he says, much that is of great interest to readers of Isaiah lies not in reconstructed philology or historical setting, but in its appropriation in music, art, and the general mythology of Christianity (e.g. the ox and the ass of the nativity scene; the suffering servant in the passion...). We can only hope that this might signal the beginning of the end of dry-as-dust and theologically thin commentaries on biblical books, and the beginning of a whole new approach to dialoging with ancient texts. Groundbreaking.