Disability and Isaiah's Suffering Servant

281 Pages·2011·1.36 MB·English

by  Schipper

Biblical Refigurations
Disability and Isaiah’s Suffering Servant
BIBLICAL REFIGURATIONS
General Editors: James Crossley and Francesca Stavrakopoulou
This innovative series offers new perspectives on the textual, cultural,
and interpretative contexts of particular biblical characters, inviting
readers to take a fresh look at the methodologies of Biblical Studies.
Individual volumes employ different critical methods including social-
scientific criticism, critical theory, historical criticism, reception history,
postcolonialism, and gender studies, while subjects include both
prominent and lesser known figures from the Hebrew Bible and the New
Testament.
DISABILITY AND ISAIAH’S SUFFERING
SERVANT
JEREMY SCHIPPER
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP
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by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Jeremy Schipper 2011
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Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2011
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Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Data available Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
Printed in Great Britain
on acid-free paper by
MPG Books Group, Bodmin and King’s Lynn ISBN 978–0–19–959485–6
(hbk)
978–0–19–959486–3 (pbk)
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Contents
List of Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction: Disabling Progress in Suffering Servant Scholarship
A translation of Isaiah 53 (52:13–53:12)
The figures in Isaiah 53
Sources and structure of Isaiah 53
The suffering servant and the cultural history of disability
Overview of forthcoming chapters
1. Disabling Methodology in Hebrew Bible Studies
Defining disability according to various models
What counts as disability imagery?
Conclusions
2. The Servant as a Figure with Disabilities
Bernhard Duhm, the servant songs, and the servant with disabilities
The servant’s disability as a social experience
Was an able-bodied servant injured?
Was an able-bodied servant killed?
Did an able-bodied servant recover?
Was the servant an able-bodied prisoner?
Conclusions
3. The Servant as Scriptural Sufferer
Disability imagery lost in translation
Disability imagery lost in typology
Conclusion: the invention of the able-bodied suffering servant
4. The Servant as Historical or Collective Sufferer
Identifying the servant through disability
The servant as messiah
The servant as king
The servant as prophet
The servant as a collective reference
Conclusions
Conclusion: The Servant as Able-Bodied Passer
Brave new worlds without disabilities
Democratizing the servant or appropriating disability?
The servant’s afterlife: creative reapplying or passing?
Notes
Works Cited
Index to Biblical and Other Ancient Texts
General Index
Abbreviations
AB Anchor Bible
ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by D. N. Freedman. 6 vols.
New York, 1992
ACCS Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture
AJT American Journal of Theology
ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old
Testament. Edited by J. B. Prichard. 3d edn. Princeton,
1969
ArBib The Aramaic Bible
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BibInt Biblical Interpretation: A Journal of Contemporary
Approaches
BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of
Manchester
BZ Biblische Zeitschrift
BWANT Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen
Testament
BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche
Wissenschaft
ConBOT Coniectanae biblica: Old Testament Series
ConBOT Coniectanae biblica: Old Testament Series
COS The Context of Scripture. Edited by W. W. Hallo. 3 vols.
Leiden, 1997–
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
EvT Evangelische Theologie
FAT Forschungen zum Alten Testament
HSM Harvard Semitic Studies
IDB The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Edited by G. A.
Buttrick. 4 vols. Nashville, 1962
ICC International Critical Commentary
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JHS Journal of Hebrew Scriptures
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement
Series
KJV King James Version
LHBOTS Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies
NIB The New Interpreter’s Bible
NICOT New International Commentary on the Old Testament
NIV New International Version
NovTSup Novem Testamentum Supplements
NRSV New Revised Standard Version