I worked hard at one time to read the Hebrew Bible (in English translation) as if I were not Christian. I could not do it. The impulse to supersessionism remains strong for too many of us. I find reading Isaiah almost as if it were not a Christian book near impossible. That is one reason I hesitate imitating Jewish rites even in imagination. For me, Isaiah IS a fifth gospel. I have to work hard to see it otherwise. I came of age about the time that “secure” readings of Scripture as a unity just began to fall into question. People like von Rad worked well for preachers—unfortunately, perhaps, too well. I did not read the negative responses to these unitary reading until about 1964 or so.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 00:25:05 +0000