The Book of Isaiah and the Anthological Genre

Abstract

Abstract:Books are often associated with a single authorial figure. Though ancient notions of authorship are significantly different from our own, this idea can also be observed in certain ancient reading practices that associate the entire book of Isaiah with an eighth-century figure of that name. Modern scholars concur by viewing the additions of Second and Third Isaiah to the book of Isaiah as acts of pseudonymous ascription. This paper argues instead that the Second Temple book of Isaiah was formed and understood as an anthology of oracles associated with different prophetic figures, similar to the more transparently anthological book of the Twelve. Support for this understanding of the nature of the book of Isaiah will be found in the material history of the text and in unique paratextual features of the Great Isaiah Scroll from Qumran (1QIsaa).