Authorship of Isaiah
By Anton Williams, Founder
Authorship and date of composition for the book of Isaiah
Historical Traditional/Conservative view asserts that the prophet Isaiah wrote the entire book of Isaiah between about 720-670 BCE
Liberal view claims that only part of Isaiah may have been written by the prophet but there are several anonymous editors who wrote centuries later
Which view does the objective/external evidence corroborate?
Objective/external evidence corroborate the prophet Isaiah wrote his book in the 8th-7th century BCE
When a person lines up the conservative view of 1 Isaiah in comparison of the liberal view of multiple anonymous authors and evaluates on the basis of external/objective evidence, the liberal view loses every time. (20+ to 0) The implication is that the theory of multiple anonymous authors is fantasy and not reality. The reality is that the prophet Isaiah wrote the texts between 720-680 BCE.
There is not a shred of evidence of that the book of Isaiah was originally comprising multiple anonymous literary works. No evidence which is stated internally, in manuscripts, in apocrypha literature, in sectarian literature, rabbinic Judaism texts nor Josephus the historian. Conversely, all these sources attribute the authorship entire book of Isaiah to the prophet Isaiah
For the critic to refute this objective/external evidence it is not sufficient to merely claim not to believe it but external/objective (independent) evidence to the contrary must be shown. There would have to be some sources from antiquity which refer or contain internal data on the editors of Isaiah or even separate fragments of the texts. None of this exists but all ancient sources corroborate Isaiah wrote the entire book
Implications of Isaiah recording future events (even centuries later) accurately
Critics tried (and failed) to refute the authorship of Isaiah and made the assertions because the prophet accurate foretells of future events centuries later.
Two possible response to this phenomenon are possible.
A person could reject and deny (with no objective/external evidence) that Isaiah wrote the text. Since there is no evidence for this is proves that critic is merely making this up
A second response could be to receive that truth the God did speak to and through the prophet Isaiah as all the objective/external sources of antiquity demonstrate. The implication is there is a God to be accountable to and He is the ultimate source/author of the Bible.