Effectless Prophecy, Hatred between shepherds and Elders, and Sacrifice to Beliar - The Great Despair of <i>The Ascension of Isaiah</i>

The link between NT writings and the early history of Hekhalot literature has been questioned primarily on the basis of the dating of the canonical Christian writings to the first century. This article attempts to read The Ascension of Isaiah against the background of Jewish and Christian identity formation that took place towards the end and after the second Jewish war around the mid second century. With Marcion of Sinope as a key figure who rejected not only the Torah but also the Jewish Prophets of old to promote the sole Prophet, Christ, the Ascension shares issues with Marcion, but also develops a distinctively different profile of a Christian vision with Jewish Prophets like Isaiah being the main carriers of revelatory authority. If, however, one were to date the canonical writings into the same time, then the web of negotiations of what Jews and the novel Christians are would need to be taken into account, too.