Please click one of the attachments* to view Bruce Hollenbach, “Lest They Should Turn and Be Forgiven: Irony”, Bible Translator 34.3 (July 1983) 312-21.
The ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials provides the following abstract of this article:
“An exegesis of this phrase [i.e. “lest they should turn and be forgiven”] in Isaiah, Mark, and John, which treats it as irony, shows that it never expresses a reluctance on the part of God or Jesus to see anyone turn and be forgiven. It expresses rather reluctance on the part of the addressees of the divine message. Irony as a figure is described and illustrated. The notes list other occurances of irony in the Scriptures, discuss the question of “hardening”, and summarize earlier commentary on this phrase in the NT.”
*Note: Two files of the same article have been provided. The first is a pdf of relatively small size (427 KB). However, in order to read the article, the reader must rotate its view by either pressing shift/control/minus or by clicking on “view” at the top left side of the pdf viewer, then “rotate view”, then choose “counterclockwise”. The second attachment is a pdf of a rather large size (7.57 MB) which can be read as is.
Hollenbach. Lest They Should Turn and Be Forgiven.
Irony 2 Hollenbach. Lest They Should Turn and Be Forgiven. Irony
