Dynamics of the sense of scripture: Luther and Calvin on the book of Isaiah

The dissertation explores Luther's and Calvin's exegesis of Isaiah within the broad history of interpretation of Scripture. The objective of the study is to demonstrate a significant exegetical shift that Luther and Calvin introduced into the history of the exegesis of Isaiah. The main questions that the dissertation addresses are as follows: "Can Luther's and Calvin's exposition of Isaiah be considered 'christological' in a traditional sense, particularly, in comparison to the patristic exegesis and the medieval Quadriga? If so, do the Protestant reformers' share the same hermeneutical principles with the patristic commentators? If not, what are some crucial elements that render the sixteenth century exegesis of Isaiah noticeably distinctive from their predecessors' commentaries?";To achieve the goal, the dissertation places Luther's lectures on Isaiah (1527) and Calvin's commentary on Isaiah (1551, revised in 1559) side by side with the backdrop of the patristic commentaries written by Eusebius of Caesarea, Jerome, Cyril of Alexandria, Theodoret of Cyrus, Origen, and John Chrysostom. To reveal the sixteenth century exposition's continuity as well as discontinuity with the patristic exegesis, the study in separate chapters examines the Protestant Reformers' hermeneutical principles, conceptions of the Old Testament prophecy, primary subject matters of Isaiah, the biblical prophet's identity and chief ministry, the human author's intention, and their different notions of the proper doctrines taught by Isaiah.;By the comparative and contextual analysis of the Protestant Reformers' reading of Isaiah, the dissertation demonstrates that Luther's and Calvin's conception of 'the proper sense of the prophecy' are significantly discernable in the history of exegesis. In contrast to the patristic notion of the superiority of the spiritual sense, Luther perceives that Isaiah's method of prophecy is 'the transition' between the two different literal senses, which are closely associated with the distinction between the two kingdoms and with the dialectical relationship of the law and the gospel. On the contrary, Calvin determines that Isaiah employs a method of 'the extension' of the single literal sense, which embraces other soteriological events in history until the full restoration of the Church will be accomplished by the second coming of Christ.