Derek Malone-France - Political Dissent: A Global Reader: Ancient to Early-Modern Sources

Derek Malone-France is associate professor of religion and associate professor of writing, at The George Washington University, where he also directs the University Writing Program. His research and teaching interests include metaphysics, philosophy of religion, political and legal philosophy, political and religious rhetoric, and human rights theory and practice. He received his doctorate in philosophy of religion and theology in 2001 from Claremont Graduate University. He has previously taught at Duke University, where he was a Mellon Postdoctoral Writing Fellow and an instructor in the Philosophy and Political Science Departments and associate director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Writing.

Dereks first book, Deep Empiricism: Kant, Whitehead, and the Necessity of Philosophical Theismalso from Lexington Books (2007)examines the respective metaphysical and epistemological systems of the Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant and the British-American philosopher Alfred North Whitehead. His other publications include articles in journals such as the International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, the American Journal of Theology and Philosophy, Faith and Philosophy, Process Studies, Teaching Philosophy, and the International Journal for World Peace.

Isaiah*

(c750700BCE)

For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

Isaiah (in Hebrew: Yeshayahu) was a prophet in the Israelite kingdom of Judah. He is considered a major prophetic figure in both the Jewish and Christian traditions, second in importance only to Moses on some accounts, and the book that bears his name is a canonical text in both Judaisms Hebrew Bible and Christianitys Old Testament.

The book tells the story of Isaiahs call to prophecy, which he is said to have received directly from God, rather than through an intermediary, distinguishing him from most Hebrew prophets. It enumerates Gods complaints against both Judah and the surrounding nations. And it describes Isaiahs visions of things to come.

In these visions, Isaiah foretells not only the punishments that God will mete out against the unjust, but also the ultimate reconciliation of the Jewish people with God, which is to culminate in an era of international peace and justice, when the nations of the world shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks and nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Isaiah begins by likening Judah and its capital, Jerusalem, to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which, according to Genesis (the first book of both the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament), God had destroyed as punishment for the iniquity of their inhabitants. He explains that God no longer honors the sacrifices nor hears the prayers of the people of Judah, because of their sinfulness. The list of grievances that Isaiah proclaims against the Judeans include: idolatry, sexual licentiousness, political corruption, and the abuse of those who live at the margins of societyparticularly widows, orphans, and the fatherless.

The biblical tradition of critical prophecy aimed at social and political reform, which Isaiah exemplifies, has been a fundamental source of inspirationand legitimationfor political dissenters throughout history, wherever this tradition has been carried by immigration or religious evangelism. And echoes of Isaiahs special concern for the marginalized members of society and his utopian conception of a world that achieves peace through justice can be heard in the declarations of many of the later authors whose works are collected in this anthology.

It is also worth noting, however, that Isaiahs critique of the culture of sexuality that he sees as having taken root in Judah, which includes particularly pointed references to the intermingling of Judeans with strangers (in an ethnic sense) and to the haughty and wanton ways of Judean women, introduces a strong traditionalist crosscurrent in his writing, contrasting with the more progressive character of his views on economic justice and issues of war and peace.

The full Book of Isaiah comprises sixty-six chapters, each of which is a collection of short, poetically arranged verses. Traditionally, Isaiah was considered to be not only the primary subject but also the author of this text. However, many modern scholars believe that there is a break between the first and second parts of the text, with Chapters 1-39 generally being attributed to Isaiah himself, or perhaps some contemporary of his, while Chapters 40-66 are viewed as later additions to the text made by others. The portion of the book excerpted here includes the first five chapters, as they are rendered in the King James version of the Christian Old Testament (the version with which the majority of the other authors represented here would have been most likely to be familiar).

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Verse 1: The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2: Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

3: The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his masters crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

4: Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

5: Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

6: From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

7: Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

8: And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

9: Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

10: Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

11: To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

12: When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

13: Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

14: Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

15: And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

16: Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

17: Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

18: Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.