I own and have read all of Margaret Barker’s
books. There are some Latter-day Saints out there who think she is the next
best thing since sliced bread; some think she is off her rocker. I take a
mid-way position. I appreciate her ability to think outside the box at times
and come up with fresh ideas—some of these ideas I think are good and hold up
to scrutiny; others . . . not so.
In one of my favourite tv shows of all
time, Parks and Recreation, Ron Swanson, a fellow hardcore libertarian,
said the following to Leslie Knope:
"Capitalism . . . It's what makes
America great, and England okay, and France terrible.”
One would rework Swanson’s quote thusly:
“Barker’s ability to think outside the box
. . . It’s what makes The Great High Priest great; The Great Angel pretty
good; and The Mother of My Lord dreadful.”
Notwithstanding, her article, “The Original
Setting of the Fourth Servant Song” (PKA “Hezekiah’s Boil,” JSOT 95
[2001]:31-42) is a pretty good article. In it, she shows that the Fourth
Servant Song (Isa 52:13-53:12) is set (and was written) during the time of
Proto-Isaiah (Barker accepts multiple authorship of Isaiah, but believes this belongs to the Proto-Isaiah corpus, not Deutero).
On the topic of the Fourth Servant Song in
the Book of Mormon and Abinadi’s use thereof, see my article:
Isaiah
52:13-53:12, Mosiah 14, and KJV Chapter and Verse Separations in the Book of
Mormon