I Am Large, I Contain Multitudes

Katie M. Heffelfinger, Ph.D. (2009) in Hebrew Bible, Emory University, is Lecturer in Biblical Studies and Hermeneutics at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute.

• Chapter One: Introduction: The Role of Poetry in the Interpretation of Second Isaiah1. History of Scholarship2. Explaining the Neglect of Lyric Poetic Tools3. Proposal and PlanChapter Two: Second Isaiah and Lyric Tools1. Defining Lyric2. A Word About Anachronism3. Assessing Second Isaiah as Lyric3.1. Characteristic One: Second Isaiah’s Units as Non-Narrative3.2. Characteristic Two: Second Isaiah’s Units and Vocality, Musicality, and Tropological Density3.3. Summary: Second Isaiah’s Units as Lyric Poems4. Tools for Reading Lyric Poetry4.1. Lyric Sequencing as Lens for Reading Lyric Collections4.2. Disjunction as Significant and Meaningful4.3. The Significance of Voice4.4. The Centrality of Emotion5. ConclusionChapter Three: The Problem of Comfort: Second Isaiah’s Rhetorical Environment and its Intractable Problem1. Situating Second Isaiah2. Indications of Exigence within Second Isaiah2.1 Identifying Second Isaiah’s Intended Audience2.2. Embedded Speeches as Indicators of Rhetorical Environment – The Audience’s perspective2.3. Allusions as Indicators of Rhetorical Environment3. The Tension Between the People’s Complaint and the Divine Response3.1. An Opening Announcement of the Intention to Comfort: Isaiah 40: 1-23.2. Further Expressions of the Comfort Theme 4. The Tension Between Comfort and Indictment4.1. The Divine Voice and Past Rage4.2. Divine Rage and Present Threat5. Comfort as Intractable Problem6. ConclusionChapter Four: A Paratactic-Cohesive Whole: Lyric Unity in Second Isaiah1. Tension and Balance: Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces2. Centrifugal Forces and Disjunction in Second Isaiah2.1. Parataxis and Its Impact2.2. Concrete References2.3. Lack of Terminal Closure3. Ambivalent Forces in Second Isaiah3.1. Second Isaiah’s Lack of Clear Boundary Markers3.2. Second Isaiah’s Lexical Recurrences and Thematic Threads4. Centripetal Forces and Cohesion in Second Isaiah4.1. Mirrored Passages4.2. Dominance of the Divine Voice5. Second Isaiah’s Balance Point and the Significance of the Divine Speaking Voice6. Cohesion in Prior Scholarship7. Voice as ‘Unstable’ UnityChapter Five: Tonal Tension and Resolution in the Divine Speaking Voice1. Determining the Tonalities of the Divine Voice in Second Isaiah1.1. Major Stream 1: Compassionate Comfort1.2. Major Stream 2: Righteous Indignation with Accusation and Disputation1.3. Major Stream 3: Majestically Supreme Confidence1.4. Juxtaposition as Tonal Indicator throughout Second Isaiah1.5. The Interplay of Tonal Streams in the Divine Voice2. Tracing the Flow of Tonalities in the Divine Voice2.1. Survey of Second Isaiah’s Tonal Flow2.2. An Opening Announcement of Comfort – Isaiah 40:1-22.3. The Confidence of the Creator – Isaiah 42:5-92.4. Sinners in the Hands of an Obliterating God – Isaiah 43:22-282.5. Your Name is Transgressor – Isaiah 48:1-112.6. Indelibly Engraved – Isaiah 49:14-50:32.7. A “Rebuking Consolation” – Isaiah 51:12-162.8. The Climax of Comfort – Isaiah 54:1-17a3. Summary of Tonal Flow: The Progression of Tonalities and the Resolution of Their Tension4. Tonal Flow and the Intractable Problem4.1. Contributions of the Comfort Tonality4.2. Contributions of the Indictment Tonality4.3. Contributions of the Confidence Tonality5. Rhetorical Impact and Implications for Second Isaiah’s ‘Message’Chapter 6: Conclusion1. Summary of Argument2. Significance of these Findings2.1. The Question of Second Isaiah’s Meaningful Arrangement2.2. Methodological Contributions2.3. Addressing Critical Problems in Second Isaiah3. Avenues for Further Research.4. ConclusionAppendix 1: Motif Recurrences in Second IsaiahAppendix 2: Speaking Voices in Second IsaiahAppendix 3: Chart of the Tonalities of the Divine Voice in Second IsaiahAppendix 4: Sequence of Poems in Second Isaiah and Tonal Descriptions of EachBibliography