There is currently much interest in the history of interpretation, reader-response and the sociology of sacred texts - in what the text does as much as what it means. Isaiah, 'more evangelist than prophet' according to Jerome and others, provides an ideal case study, because of his profound influence on the language and imagery of Christianity. With illustrations from art, music, literature and the media as well as commentaries, sermons and official church pronouncements, Professor Sawyer shows how Isaiah has been used in all kinds of context, from the cult of the Virgin Mary, mediaeval passion iconography and antisemitic propaganda to Christian feminism and liberation theology. This first attempt at a comprehensive critical study of an essential part of biblical interpretation will provide a model for further research, and ensure that commentaries will never be the same again.
A revised and updated edition of a classic textbook in the Oxford Bible Series about prophecy and prophets, this book is a clear and succinct study of prophecy both as a phenomenon in the wide context
This unique dictionary not only identifies terms and biblical figures but also examines them from the perspective of “reception history”—the history of the effect the Bible has had on its readers. Bib
Until now, no reference work has yet appeared on the Bible as it appears in Western music. In The Bible in Music, scholars Siobhan Dowling Long and John F. A. Sawyer provide for the first time a conve
