“‘The Other’ Doing God’s Work” Course: Session 2 (Evening)

Session 2 – Isaiah and the Messiah of Another Religion 

Although the Persian King Cyrus was not Jewish, the Book of Isaiah refers to Cyrus by the religious title of “messiah” and sees this king of another religion (Zoroastrianism) as benevolently fulfilling the will of the God of Israel. So what gives? 

NOTE: Based on Dr. Lucas Schulte’s research findings in his chapter “Isaiah in the Persian Period” in the forthcoming book The Cambridge Companion to the Book of Isaiah

Key takeaway: A person of a different religion than ours can be viewed as doing good within our own religious tradition without ever converting to our religion – and people in the ancient Middle East understood this.