Interpreting the 'Servant Song' of Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Essay

The introduction deals with the ideas of authority and perspective, and how they function properly in the process of Biblical interpretation. A key idea is that reading is a dialogue between the text and the reader. Both sides have a role to play. If we acknowledge this, then we must also acknowledge that the perspective of the reader has some significance in how the Bible is interpreted and exercises authority. This dialogical reading transcends the categories of ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’, and

The Last Judgement is the final part of the York Corpus Christi Play. This play deals with Christ’s return from heaven to judge people. Its characters are God, Jesus, three angels, three devils, two apostles, two good souls and two bad souls. The section of the play, on which this essay will focus, is a speech of Jesus addressing the audience as well as the good and the bad souls. While he threatens the bad souls with punishment, he promises the good souls rewards. The scene is set rather at the end of the play. The part before is used to direct the audience’s attention to this scene, while the part afterwards can be understood as a reinforcement of Jesus’ speech. Undoubtedly, this scene is the most central one in the play. As it will be shown by analyzing the way of staging as well as the speech’s structure and language, its purpose is to frighten the audience and to help them leading a faithful life.

Isaiah 58:6-14 is a very powerful passage. The first bible version that I read it in was the King James Version. That version didn't really make very much sense to me because of all the "thou's" and "thee's" and "thines". So then I looked it up again in the New Revised Standard Version. It was a lot clearer when I looked it up in that bible. There are a few similarities and differences from the different versions that I read. The two that stood out the most to me was the King James Version, and the New Revised Standard Version. The differences were like night and day. Probably because they were the first two that I read, and maybe because the King James Version, like I said earlier, has a lot of the "1800's language," like "thou"

From a historical and geographical perspective, the book of Isaiah is an accurate representation. A lot of what has been found through archeology supports the events in the book. The book of Isaiah focuses on the south kingdom of Judah. During the book, the North Kingdom is in the process of its down fall. The book of Isaiah gives us insight into the minds of the southern kings at the time. Thus, we are able to see the historical context of how the south eventually fell.

The characteristics of a hero are simultaneously interwoven throughout the text in form of adjectives which include “strong,” “stouthearted,” and “bold.” When employed, these words trigger the formation of a mental visual that encompasses the components of a romanticized warrior or what some perceive to be a hero’s prime attributes. Additionally, specifically describing the gallows as “high” dramatizes the martyrdom enhancing in this way the image of a person who approached the site of his inevitable death dauntlessly. The capitalization of terms including “Hero” and the explicitly stated “Warrior” suggests that these are not mere words that are applied only to describe an honorable person but are also additional titles that can be used to refer to Jesus. Just as the “Father” the “Son” and “Holy Spirit” are thought to be titles pertaining to God, “Hero” and “Warrior” are titles that in this case are given to Jesus. Capitalizing both terms is also used to draw a parallel between them which suggests that the two are complementary to each other and as a result can be used interchangeably. Lastly, the capitalization of these two terms in particular is implicative of how much value placed on warriors who in turn were perceived as heroic during the Middle Ages which is when the poem is thought to have been composed.

After reading this excerpt from “Under the Feet of Jesus”, the reader can better understand how a protagonist’s character can develop throughout a text. At first, Estrella’s character can be described as immature and curious. However, towards the end of the text, Estrella’s character can be described as humble and understanding. This writer conveys this change in character using literary devices. Moreover, these devices include selection of detail, figurative language, and tone.

In Isaiah’s Immanuel, Dr. Edward Hindson truly dives into the book of Isaiah. Hindson helps us to grasp the importance and statute of Isaiah. He was not simply a prophet among prophets. He stands out as a citizen of Israel and a servant of God. Hindson does not hold back on his praises of Isaiah and agrees with W.R.Smith, that he is the second most important person throughout the whole story of Israel (2). Isaiah’s writings style still puts modern day scholars in awe. However, Isaiah’s Godly leadership is a principle throughout the book that far exceeds his other attributes. His wisdom, words, and visions from God guided the nation of Israel throughout the reign of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Hindon discusses the history of not only Isaiah

(This book has been translated to English from Hebrew so the paragraphs may make grammar mistakes)

  There is not unanimity among Beowulf translators concerning all parts of the text, but there is little divergence from a single, uniform translation of the poem. Herein are discussed some passages which translators might show disagreement about because of the lack of clarity or missing fragments of text or abundance of synonyms or ambiguous referents.

The Norton Anthology, a book containing countless stories and tales of heroism, holds a rather confusing final verse to one of its great stories, the Song of Roland. This final line catches all those who read it, trying to understand its true meaning. One must understand the final verse to fully understand the story. The confusion surrounding the concluding line exists due to the ancient and unclear language Turold wrote the story in. Through the seven translations he also changes the wording in several diverse ways. Along with the confusing language and wording, scholars have formed opinions about the meaning of the final line. Of the several possible meanings of the last line of Song of Roland, each one affects the resolve and meaning of the entire story in different ways through the confusing language, changes in wording, and various scholars opinions on the text.

This paper will address these biblical passages in Isaiah 52 and 53, which describes a “suffering servant” to the Lord God. There has been a debate as to whether these passages where describing the Messiah who would come to restore Israel as God’s chosen people or if the passage was describing the nation of Israel as the “suffering servant”. Christian scholars and clergy view these passages as describing Jesus who they affirm as the Messiah. The text is written in a poetic form and flows from one subject to another, however, many view these passages as being extremely detailed prophecy about the Messiah to come. I will point out key passages and explain how these passages provide clarity about whom the writer was speaking. This paper will point out why Jesus is the “suffering servant”, who is mentioned in Isaiah and explain why the “suffering servant” is not the nation of Israel as others propose.

Augustine’s overall view of slavery in Book 19 chapter 14 is controversial, given mankind was only meant to rule over non-rational creature, and problematically the possibility that prideful men could enslave individuals from conquests of war, or those that are weak. For the main problem that arises from Augustine view is his statement. “The apostle therefore admonishes servants to be obedient to their masters, and to serve them loyally and with good will […] they can at least make their own slavery to some extent free” [944]. The conceptual notion that as long as the individual is in good health, and can has time to freely practice their faith towards God, then so be their mortal position as a slave. Given they will possess eternal peace, and freedom in the city of God. However, this notion is problematic, given there may be a moral limit the servant is willing to follow, especially if the actions or will of their conquering ‘master’ conflicts with the agent’s own religious/moral views. Additionally, that all slaves are not, ‘natural slaves’, rather they may be rational individuals that were forced into a position to preserve their lives. Additionally, the notion of enabling, aiding or allowing their master to perform their sinister acts, whether the Christian slave ought to rebel against them. lastly, the dilemma of family obligations which conflicts with servitude. Therefore, this essay will argue against Augustine’s conclusion of slavery, in regards to the disposition of

Augustine’s overall view of slavery in Book 19, of chapter 14, is controversial, because mankind was originally meant only to rule over non-rational creature. For the focused problem that arises from Augustine view is his concluding statement in chapter 14. “The apostle therefore admonishes servants to be obedient to their master’s, and to serve them loyally and with good will […] they can at least make their own slavery to some extent free” [944]. The entailing notion that as long as the individual is in good health, and has time to freely practice their faith towards God, then so be their mortal position as a slave. Given they will possess eternal peace, and freedom in the city of God. Nevertheless, this notion remains problematic, given there may be a moral limits the servant is willing to follow, especially if the actions or will of their conquering master conflicts with the agent’s own religious/moral views. Additionally, the issue with Augustine’s general view of slavery, in how the Aristotelian definition heavily influences his vision of what slavery is, and the problem that comes with it. Moreover, the problem of the slave enabling, aiding or allowing their master to perform their sinister acts, and whether the Christian slave ought to rebel against them. lastly, the dilemma of family obligations which conflicts with servitude. Therefore, this essay will argue against Augustine’s conclusion of slavery, in regards to the disposition of the slave, and the dilemmas that

To speak of the Hebrew Scripture is to speak of story, a story stretching from the very beginning of time to only a few centuries before the beginning of the Common Era. It is to speak of richness of content, of purpose and of reality and to engross oneself in an overarching narrative that, depending on your personal convictions, continues to the present day. Within this richness is found a wide variety of different events and experience, told through a series of genre ranging from foundational myth to apocalypse, law giving to poetry, genealogy to wisdom and many more. Within this diversity however, three broad sections can be discerned that speak to a shared purpose and content, these are the sections of Law, Prophecy and Writings. It

The concept of faith and suffering in the Hebrew Bible has filled worshippers with fraught throughout the ages of its existence. The crux of the matter is that there is no definition of what exactly these things are and what they mean, leading to many different theories to emerge on the concept of whether suffering is necessary for faith in God. This has historically caused strife between many populations of worshippers, and continues to be a point of bitter disagreement between people. Wildly contradicting itself between various books, the Hebrew Bible is at best ambiguous in many of these concepts, but when analyzing small passages, certain themes can be argued for with much more strength. In the Book of Job, loyalty to God is questioned, and ultimately the theme of free will in faith is addressed through the pain and suffering of its characters.