The Book of Esther between Judaism and ChristianityAUTHOR: Isaac Kalimi, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany
DATE PUBLISHED: July 2023
AVAILABILITY: Available
FORMAT: Hardback
ISBN: 9781009266123£ 100.00
HardbackDescription
The book of Esther is one of the most challenging books in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, not only because of the difficulty of understanding the book itself in its time, place, and literary contexts, but also for the long and tortuous history of interpretation it has generated in both Jewish and Christian traditions. In this volume, Isaac Kalimi addresses both issues. He situates 'traditional' literary, textual, theological, and historical-critical discussion of Esther alongside comparative Jewish and Christian interpretive histories, showing how the former serves the latter. Kalimi also demonstrates how the various interpretations of the Book of Esther have had an impact on its reception history, as well as on Jewish-Christian relations. Based on meticulous and comprehensive analysis of all available sources, Kalimi's volume fills a gap in biblical, Jewish, and Christian studies and also shows how and why the Book of Esther became one of the central books of Judaism and one of the most neglected books in Christianity.
- Includes inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary perspectives, showing how different disciplines can interact
- Presents a meticulous and comprehensive analysis of the available sources concerning the book of Esther within their biblical, historical, and ancient Near Eastern contexts
- Describes the neglect of Esther in Christianity, and how the biblical text is used and abused to advance Judeophobic and anti-Semitic agenda of some theologians and scholars
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