How many Isaiahs were there?
English: The Prophet Isaiah (Is. 1:1-7,16-31) Русский: Пророк Исайя (Ис. 1:1-7,16-31) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) This is a highly complex question, and an answer less than book length barely scratches the surface. There has been more discussion of the unity of Isaiah by both defenders and critics than any other prophetic book of the Old Testament . It is the unanimous opinion of the critical school of thought that the Book of Isaiah is not a unity. Chapters 40–66 are supposedly written by an unknown author or authors living at the end of the Babylonian captivity (after 540 B.C.) and are designated as Deutero-Isaiah or Second Isaiah. Many overlapping and equally unfounded lines of argument are used to support this contention. The critics contend that chapters 40–66 presuppose the exile. The city of Jerusalem is portrayed as ruined and deserted (44:26; 58:12), and the people are portrayed as suffering at the hands of the Chaldeans (42:22, 25; 47:6). Those whom the writer i