Abstract
In his revised doctoral dissertation, Irudayraj investigates the disturbing imagery of Isa 63:1–6 that depicts the deity’s arrival from the direction of Edom, his robes soaked in the blood of those he has trampled, utilizing a social identity approach (SIA) and iconic exegesis (IE) in the process. Following a short ‘Introduction’, chapter one briefly remarks on Trito-Isaiah, its context within Isaiah, and the social context of those it addresses before providing a translation of 63:1–6 that is accompanied by textual notes and followed by brief discussion of matters such as ‘unity and function’, ‘genre, structure, and poetic elements’, and some ‘intertextual echoes’.
In chapter two the merits and limitations of SIA are introduced in sufficient detail to acquaint readers with the approach and the concept of ‘proximate Other’ is explained before being applied to the text in chapter three. Although in many respects Edom is represented as Israel’s ultimate enemy, kinship as well as enmity is also reflected in some of the texts. In this context, Irudayaraj pursues his SIA reading of Isa. 63:1–6, finding that internal social division, Edomite incursion, and continued deprivation promote ‘a locus of intense contestation’.
In chapter four first he briefly reviews scholarship relating to the ‘Coming One’—he invariably capitalizes this and other phrases such as, ‘Trampling One’, ‘Great Grape Treader’, etc., as if they are to be construed as divine titles—paying particular attention to marginalized situations. He then explores the correlation between violent portrayals and marginal communities, drawing on insights from the case of Kālī, and also village deities (Grāmadevatā), before exploring that correlation in biblical contexts. Finding inspiration in I. J. de Hulster, Iconographic Exegesis and Third Isaiah (2009), he introduces the IE method and applies it to a re-reading of Isa 63:1–6. From the representations he examines, grape trampling is seen to be a communal and joyful peasant activity while images of Ramses II trampling his enemies depict power and strength. In contrast, the textual focus on Yahweh’s solitary execution of his laborious and wearisome task hints at a vulnerability that echoes ‘the community’s own experience of marginality’.
Chapter five brings together insights arising out of the SIA and IE readings, the one situating Edom in a text sated with violence and the other highlighting the deity’s violence, themes that according to Irudayaraj narrate two types of ‘tales of “otherness”’. With respect to the ‘ultimate’ other, he finds ‘mighty’ and ‘marginal’ aspects in the text’s representation of the Divine Warrior. As to the proximate other, there is some ambivalence in the biblical depiction of Edom: while the text depicts the Warrior coming from (the direction of) Edom it does not state that he had devastated Edom so that this, together with some other texts, permits some melioration of an otherwise near unrelenting enmity.
As an Indian Christian, conscious of early missionary indictment of violent depictions of local deities, in the chapter six (‘Retrospect and Prospect’) Irudayaraj ponders how both his own sacred text and its violence have to be owned in order to permit an open and appropriate dialogue within his own cultural milieu. There is a Bibliography, which unnecessarily has been divided into six sections, and indexes of references and authors. The book is well constructed and some of the exegetical insights, particularly in the IE chapter, are much to be appreciated.