Reflections on the Scholarly Imaginations of Good and Evil in the Book of Esther

The present article seeks to describe, analyze, and evaluate the modern scholarly attempts to grapple with the moral issues about good and evil in the Hebrew Esther story. The first part of the article examines the anti-Semitic sentiments looming behind the pre-World War II European, especially the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lee, Lydia (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill [2020]
In: Biblical interpretation
Year: 2020, Volume: 28, Issue: 3, Pages: 273-302
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Esther / Gut / böse (Word) / Antisemitism / Post-war period (motif)
IxTheo Classification:HB Old Testament
Further subjects:B Feminist
B Good and evil
B Marginalized
B Protestant
B Book of Esther
B Jewish
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Description
Summary:The present article seeks to describe, analyze, and evaluate the modern scholarly attempts to grapple with the moral issues about good and evil in the Hebrew Esther story. The first part of the article examines the anti-Semitic sentiments looming behind the pre-World War II European, especially the Protestant, commentators’ ethics assessments of the book of Esther and its Jewish characters, before pointing out a blind spot in these assessments. The second part of the article offers a systematic analysis of the gradual change of attitude induced mainly by the Jewish scholars in the aftermath of the Second World War. Lastly, the paper turns the spotlight on the Esther studies conducted by recent feminist and other marginalized biblical scholars. Attempts are made to demonstrate how their works, coming from different social contexts, enrich the academic discussions about good and evil in the book of Esther.
ISSN:1568-5152
Contains:Enthalten in: Biblical interpretation
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685152-00283P01