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Michael Jinkins
Trouble in Paradise: Isaiah Berlin, the Prophet Isaiah, and the Recovery of a Non-Utopian Eschatological Claim for Christian Preaching
The portrait of the new heaven and earth painted by the prophet Isaiah has comforted and inspired the faithful in many generations. Grief and fear, instability and danger are excluded from this ideal society, as wolves and lambs feed together and lions eat straw like oxen. The texts speak to the human longing for peace, justice, and faith in a just and merciful God. What would it mean, however, for such a utopia to cohere as a viable way of life? What does such a utopian outlook say about the world as God's good creation? Can danger be categorically excluded from existence without losing the freedom essential to a worthwhile creation? This article engages the anti-utopian writings of Isaiah Berlin as a serious conversation partner for preaching Isaiah's prophecies (Isaiah 11 and 65), observing that grief, fear, social instability, and danger are inevitable characteristics of the freedom that makes life worthwhile. While humanity may long to escape the unpleasant and uncomfortable aspects of existence, utopianism is an incoherent concept, even when deferred to the afterlife. Indeed, utopianism runs counter to the idea that God prefers freedom to safety.
International Journal of Practical Theology, Walter de Gruyter
Print ISSN: 1430-6921
Volume: 11, 06/2007
Pages: 56 - 71