Isaiah After Exile: The Author of Third Isaiah as Reader and Redactor of the Book (review)

This monograph, a revised Oxford D.Phil. thesis written under the supervision of Hugh G. M. Williamson, focuses on the role of Isaiah 56-66 in the overall formation of the book. Stromberg examines two often isolated topics: first, the ways in which Isaiah 56-66 alludes to Isaiah 1-55; and second, how Isaiah 1-55 is edited in light of Isaiah 56-66. Thus, Stromberg analyzes the use of allusion within Isaiah 56-66, viewing the author of Third Isaiah as a reader of Isaiah 1-55, in order to help identify cases of redaction within Isaiah 1-55 by this same author.

First, however, Stromberg must address the preparative issues of composition and authorship of Isaiah 56-66 in the monograph's first section, "The Author of Third Isaiah." In chapter one, he primarily reviews the scholarship on these topics and concurs with the majority view that Isaiah 60-62 forms the earliest "core" of Third Isaiah. Likewise, Isa 56:1-8 and 65-66 are treated as the latest material in Third Isaiah and therefore the "most secure point of reference for the hand responsible for TI's final form" (p. 39). Chapter two argues within the mainstream of scholarship that both Isa 56:1-8 and 65-66 are original compositions, not redactional pieces. Thus, according to Stromberg, one can reasonably speak of an author for Third Isaiah by focusing on these two late compositions. While his careful argumentation proves helpful in reviewing thoroughly the major Isaian scholarship, in the end, Stromberg proffers few new insights or readings of Third Isaiah. Instead, he principally follows Blenkinsopp and others in their reading of Isaiah 56 and Steck in his reading of Isaiah 65-66. Questions also remain concerning the methodological validity and interpretive consequences of using only three of eleven chapters of Isaiah 56-66 to represent "the author of Third Isaiah."

In the second book section, "The Author of Third Isaiah as Reader of the Book," Stromberg focuses on allusion and influence within the compositions of Isa 56:1-8 and 65-66 in order to define Third Isaiah's role as a reader of all of Isaiah. Here, Stromberg strives to balance the assessment of individual cases of literary allusion and the issue of how those cases come together to depict the author as a reader. This balancing act proves complex since it involves delving deep into the intricacies of each possible textual allusion, while also developing—as each case of allusion is configured—a more general sense of the author's reading strategies. The treatment of Isaiah 65-66 specifically devotes great energy to the former issue, that is, to recognizing the validity of every allusion. Stromberg is careful to establish that the author of Third Isaiah (i.e., the author of Isaiah 65-66) was a reader of the rest of Isaiah; yet, it is the question of how, not if, Third Isaiah reads that is less settled in the field and deserves greater attention.

The third book section, "The Author of Third Isaiah as Redactor of the Book," falls into two chapters: a longer one on redaction in Isaiah 1-39 and a shorter one on Isaiah 40-55. Here again, Stromberg strives to balance his assessment of the presence and nature of particular redactions and the larger issue of comparing "the work of this redactor with the reading strategy of the author of TI" (p. 154). Chapter five's treatment of Isaiah 1-39 strikes a nice balance by providing detailed discussions of previous scholarly work on each possible redactional element along with extended discussions about how each redaction relates to the portrait of the author of Third Isaiah as presented in section two. In the end, Stromberg argues that a certain set of redactions within First Isaiah—Isa 1:27-31; 6:13bb; 4:2...