Isaiah
From RationalWiki
Isaiah is a prophetic book in the Old Testament of The Bible.
[edit] Authorship
There are arguments that more than one author composed the book of Isaiah: proponents of this theory normally cite the sudden change in literary style after book 40, and the historical perspective, which before this point describes God's anger and coming vengeance (suggesting a pre-exile viewpoint), and after it, a description of God's coming mercy and forgiveness, which suggests a post-exile viewpoint. The Talmud [1] states that the book of Isaiah was written by 'King Hezechaiah and his attendants'; a similar view is held by the Catholic Church, which states that it was compiled by later 'disicples of Isaiah'[2]
Any suggestion of this is deemed 'liberal speculation' [3] and a 'Wikipedia point of view' [4], and thus a reason for banning, by Conservative.
[edit] Isaiah and human rights
The book of Isaiah has a large amount to say on social justice; this sort of sentiment is something neglected by many Christians. For example, Isaiah 58:6-10 gives the following as an instruction from God:
'6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness [a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.'
