Analyzing the lengthy Isaiah scroll in terms of its differences or its similarities has been the determining characteristic of German versus English scholarship. The German school has focused on the diverse discourses within Isaiah, hypothesizing that at least three separate authors (dubbed proto, deutero, and trito-Isaiah), or perhaps even the efforts of an entire "Isaiah school," are responsible for each of the scroll's different "voices."

Recently some English scholarship has begun to tune in to the commonalities, the logical sense of wholeness, that holds the complex Isaiah scroll together. While different tones are emphasized within the course of Isaiah's witness, these scholars hear a coherent message throughout. There is a continual messianic focus whether that Messiah is envisione…