“Whom shall I send…? … Here, am I, send Me! (Isa 6:8)” Ambiguity of the Call, Ambiguity of the Response: A critical assessment of the Priestly Vocation in the context of the Call of Isaiah in today’s world

Michael Chris Ndele ORCID iD 

Issue: Vol. 12 No.7 2026 Issue Article 3 pp.290 – 300
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20261273 Published online 19th August 2026.
© 2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Views: 8
3 Downloads

DOWNLOAD PDF

The episode about the call of Isaiah (cf. Isa 6:1–3, 6–8) presents a crisis of ambiguity in the way the call was processed and lived.  Ambiguity stems from the differing attitudes displayed by the caller and the called. Although the caller is divine and omniscient, the question regarding who to choose and send evokes a sense of uncertainty. Similarly, the response from the called seems equally confusing. The characters’ attitudes are obscure because the caller appears to be unsure about the right candidate for the task, whereas the called thinks he is ready and he accepts to be sent without regard for the unknown. Meanwhile, his initial fear, insecurity and unworthiness rather cast doubts on his confidence and enthusiasm for the responsibility. This article uses a narrative analysis to study ambiguity in the call of Isaiah and draw implications for priestly vocation in today’s world. The paper argues that the priest’s vocation, like that of Isaiah, also portrays ambiguity of different behaviours and attitudes, including knowing and not knowing, being holy and being unholy, as well as feeling worthy and unworthy at the same time. Nevertheless, the candidate is assured amidst uncertainty that his vocation can be lived only through an absolute reliance upon the One who calls and who can embolden him with confidence and a sense of worthiness.

Keywords: Ambiguity, vocation, Isaiah, prophet, priest, priesthood.

“The Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests: Presbyterorum Ordinis,” no. 3, in Austin Flannery. Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post-Conciliar Documents. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1975.

Arbuckle, Gerald A. Abuse and Cover-Up: Refounding the Church in Trauma. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2019.

Aaron, David H. Biblical Ambiguities: Metaphor, Semantics and Divine Imagery. Leiden: Brill, 2001.

Alter, Robert. The Art of Biblical Narrative. New York: Basic, 2011.

Bahti, Timothy. “Ambiguity and Indeterminacy: The Juncture.” Comparative Literature 38/3 (1986): 209–223.

Bal, Mieke. Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017.

Brooks, David G. “Ambiguity, the Literary and Close Reading.” CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture. 12/4 (2010): 1–8.

Chapman, Geoffrey. Catechism of the Catholic Church. Citta del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1994.

Chisholm Jr, Robert B. Handbook on the Prophets. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2002.

Crouch, Carly L. and Christopher B. Hays. Isaiah: A Paradigmatic Prophet and His Interpreters: An Introduction and Study Guide. London: T&T Clark, 2022.

Emanuel, David. An Intertextual Commentary to the Psalter: Juxtaposition and Allusion in Book I. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2022.

Fokkelman, Jan P. Reading Biblical Narrative: An Introductory Guide. Trans. Ineke Smit. Louisville, KY: Knox, 1999.

Gertz, Jan Christian, Angelika Berlejung, Konrad Schmid, and Markus Witte. T&T Clark Handbook of the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Literature, Religion and History of the Old Testament. New York: T&T Clark, 2008.

Hattersley, Roy. The Church and Its People in Britain and Ireland, from Reformation to the Present Day. London: Chatto and Windus, 2017.

Hayes, John. Amos the Eighth Prophet: His times and His Preaching. Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1988.

Hopkins, Nancy Myer and Mark Laaser. Restoring the Soul of a Church: Healing Congregations Wounded by Clergy Sexual Misconduct. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1995.

Matthews, Victor. The Hebrew Prophets and their Social World: An Introduction. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2012.

McConville, Gordon. Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Prophetic Books: Isaiah. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2023.

Ndele, Michael C. “Textual Ambiguity and Identity in Genesis 18–19: A Narrative Critical Reading.” PhD Dissertation; Leuven: KU Leuven Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, 2024.

Ossa-Richardson, Anthony. A History of Ambiguity. Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2019.

Pope John Paul II. “I Will Give You Shepherds: On the Formation of Priests in the Circumstances of the Present Day.” Pastores Dabo Vobis. Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, 1992.

Schmid, Wolf. Narratology: An Introduction. Trans. Alexander Starrit; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010.

Tilley, Christopher. Material Culture and Text: The Art of Ambiguity. New York: Routledge, 2015.

Troxel, Ronald L. Prophetic Literature: From Oracles to Books. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.

Vöhler, Martin. “Modern and Ancient Concepts of Ambiguity.” in Strategies of Ambiguity in Ancient Literature. edited by Therese Fuhrer and Stavros Frangoulidis. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021.

Weiss, Shira. Ethical Ambiguity in the Hebrew Bible: Philosophical Analysis of Scriptural Narrative. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Michael Chris Ndele is a biblical scholar from the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium. He obtained his PhD in Biblical Studies with specialization in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) in 2024. His research delved into the exegetical issues and questions regarding ambiguity in the identity of the visitors in the Mamre-Sodom episodes in Genesis 18–19. He has other academic publications to his credit. He is a researcher with a focus including a critical study of biblical texts from narrative and textual ambiguity points of view. He is currently a lecturer in Biblical Studies and a formator at St Peter’s Regional Seminary, Pedu, Cape Coast, Ghana.

Ndele, Michael Chris. “Whom shall I send…? … Here, am I, send Me! (Isa 6:8)” Ambiguity of the Call, Ambiguity of the Response: A critical assessment of the Priestly Vocation in the context of the Call of Isaiah in today’s world.” E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies 12, no.7 (2026): 290 – 300. https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20261273

© 2026 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Articles in this Issue

About Journal