Open this publication in new window or tab >>2021 (English)In: Heralds of Good Tidings: Essays on the Bible, Prophecy, and the Hope of Israel in Honour of Antti Laato / [ed] Lindqvist, Pekka & Valve, Lotta, Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2021, p. 319-330Chapter in book (Other academic)
Abstract [en]
This article studies the reception history of a prophetic passage containing a vision of universal peace: Isa. 2.2-5 (par. Mic. 4.1-4). To begin with, it is demonstrated that one particular motif in this prophetic passage, the beating of ‘swords into plowshares’ (Isa. 2.4), has attained great symbolic significance. It has, above all, become closely associated with efforts to achieve global disarmament. Taking this contemporary trend as a point of departure, the study sets out to explore earlier stages in the history of interpretation. Based on a survey of selected examples from the patristic period, the Constantine era, and the Protestant reformation, it is demonstrated that Isa. 2.2-5 has been understood in different ways through the centuries. It is argued that major shifts in the interpretation can be related to changes in the social and political context of the interpreters. Whereas early Christian commentators (such as Justin Martyr and Eusebius) regarded this prophecy as already fulfilled in their political reality, albeit in strongly divergent ways, both Luther and Calvin advocated a spiritualizing interpretation. Against this background, the widespread use of the words from Isa. 2.4, ‘they shall beat their swords into plowshares’, as a source of inspiration for pacifist activism, stands out as a modern phenomenon.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2021
Series
Hebrew Bible Monographs ; 97
Keywords
peace, prophecy, Isaiah, history of interpretation, pacifism
National Category
Religious Studies
Research subject
Old Testament Exegesis
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-456364 (URN)978-1-914490-01-9 (ISBN)
2021-10-192021-10-192021-11-02Bibliographically approved