Lecture 1. In the Court of the King: Isaiah in his Canonical Context

This class introduces students to the particular canonical setting of Isaiah’s ministry. In order to understand the text, readers must appreciate that biblical history is not a flat plane which can be neatly subdivided into “old covenant” and “new covenant.” Rather, the old covenant itself is a developing and growing reality wherein Israel is born and nurtured through its stages of life until she has grown into a mature young woman through whom the Divine Son will be born into the world. This class places Isaiah firmly in its setting: Isaiah lives during the beginning of the long-prophesied exile. That exile, implemented by the very power responsible for the rebellion at Babel, has been framed since the days of Moses as the hinge of biblical history (Dt. 30.1-6). Isaiah holds a unique place among the prophets of Israel on account of the fact that his text provides a kind of prophetic “master narrative.” The word of God through whom the world was made comes into the mouth of Isaiah so that Israel– and all mankind through Israel– might see that the death of exile is the pathway to the resurrection of the Messiah. The other writing prophets find their place, in the canonical text of the Old Testament, in light of the grand vision revealed to Isaiah of Jerusalem. 

Lecture 2. World on Fire: The Divine Flame in Isaiah

The Bible is about God’s will to indwell the world. God created the world as a place of habitation and a place of communion. The world becomes a space in which God and mankind exist in dialogue with each other so that mankind might fulfill its purpose to bring the divine presence into the world. The calling of Isaiah occurs in the temple: the place where God’s life most intimately touched the world. Not only so, but Isaiah’s prophetic calling occurs through a burning coal. Fire is one of the most ubiquitous signs of the divine presence throughout the Scriptures, and this class examines the varied ways in which this image is used in the text of Isaiah to reveal God’s plan for indwelling the cosmos through His covenant with Israel.

Lecture 3. A King Shall Reign in Righteousness: The Messianic Hope in Isaiah

Christianity is predicated on Jesus’ identification as the Messiah of Israel. Biblical critics largely dismiss the idea of a thoroughgoing messianic hope as a product of the centuries following the Babylonian exile. This class will demonstrate that the idea of an eschatological Messiah–a single individual, genealogically linked to Judah, Israel, and Adam, through whom the whole divine purpose will be realized– has firm roots in the Torah and lies at the heart of the Book of Isaiah. Isaiah is the stained glass through which the messianic imagery of the Torah and Psalter is shaped out into a particular and radiant image. In the Messiah, the Fire of God is poured into the world forever. This class will attend closely to the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, showing how the figure of Isaiah 53 is textually linked to the Immanuel of Isaiah 7.14 and the God of Israel. Through careful attention to the shape of the text itself, students will discover that the presence of Jesus in this famous chapter is not an isolated anomaly. It is the key to unlocking the mystery of the entire book and vindicates the historic Christian contention that Israel’s Messiah is more than a mere man: He is God incarnate.

Lecture 4. In Him Shall the Nations Hope: Gentiles in Isaiah

When laypeople are asked to consider the differences between the two Testaments, one difference which seems obvious is that the Old Testament is far more intimately concerned with the life of a specific nation, contrasting with the New Testament’s apparently universal vision of God’s love for all mankind. This class will reveal this to be a misconception. Isaiah’s vision is one in which Egypt is called “my people” and Assyria “the work of my hands” (Isa. 19.25). In fact, one can hardly turn a page of Isaiah without finding some concern for and interest in the life of the nations of the world. Students will discover in Isaiah a map of the “grand strategy” that God enacts  through history for integrating the human family in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. They will discover, as the Apostle Paul elaborates in Romans 9-11, the mode in which the historic enmity between the Jewish nation and the gentile nations becomes a mode for reconciling all things in Jesus Christ. 

Lecture 5. From Alpha to Omega: An Integrated Reading of Isaiah and Beyond

Isaiah is a very long and complex book. Yet, when respect is paid to the text as it stands and its canonical context is appreciated, it is seen to have a specific structure which allows the reader to see it as a unified text with a unified center in Jesus Christ. This class will draw together the major threads of the class in order to read it, intelligibly and Christologically, from beginning to end. Having apprehended the shape of Isaiah’s arc, students will then see intriguing ways in which Isaiah interplays with other biblical texts. For example, Ps. 51 (LXX 50) is reconfigured through the whole story of the book to disclose a beautiful theology of our forgiveness and theosis through Jesus Christ, one which illumines our liturgical use of the psalm in the Orthodox Church. Isaiah reads backwards into earlier biblical texts and then becomes a key source for the apostolic understanding of Christ. Several examples of the use of Isaiah in the New Testament will be illumined by our consideration of Isaiah on its own terms.