Overview

What if the way the book of Esther has been taught to us in church and retold to us in films, cartoons, and romance novels has missed the original point of the story? Far from being models of piety and devotion, Esther and Mordecai seem indifferent to the faith of their ancestors. How then did this story become part of the Bible and gain the broad acceptance that it has? If the church should not neglect the story, how should it be read? Esther and Her Elusive God calls Christians to avoid the common attempts to make Esther more palatable and theological, and to reclaim this secular story as Scripture. Readers will be encouraged to see in Esther a profound message of God's grace and faithfulness to his wayward people.

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9781498266185

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"""""Finally, a work on Esther that identifies the true hero of the story! John Dunne highlights the faithfulness of God by contrasting it with faithless characters whose lives deny the unnamed one who rescues them. Rather than romanticizing the story and extolling phantom virtues of Esther and Mordecai, Dunne lets the text describe how thoroughly they have been assimilated into the Persian culture. He clarifies important background matters, explains the main issues of the text, and skillfully captures how this unusual book contributes to the Old Testament story. Listen to this work, and the silence of God in Esther will speak powerfully to your soul."""" --Chris Miller, Senior Professor of Biblical Studies, Cedarville University, Ohio """"Christians have traditionally read the strange and powerful book of Esther by making it fit our ideas of how piety ought to work. John Anthony Dunne challenges us to do it the other way around: to allow the story to be itself, and to expand our ideas of how God works in the world, and through his people, to include the story as it really is. This is an eye-opening book, engaging with both the popular images and scholarly puzzles that often get in the way, and presenting a lucid and attractive case for a radically different reading."""" --N. T. Wright, Research Professor of New Testament, University of St. Andrews, UK"

Finally, a work on Esther that identifies the true hero of the story! John Dunne highlights the faithfulness of God by contrasting it with faithless characters whose lives deny the unnamed one who rescues them. Rather than romanticizing the story and extolling phantom virtues of Esther and Mordecai, Dunne lets the text describe how thoroughly they have been assimilated into the Persian culture. He clarifies important background matters, explains the main issues of the text, and skillfully captures how this unusual book contributes to the Old Testament story. Listen to this work, and the silence of God in Esther will speak powerfully to your soul. --Chris Miller, Senior Professor of Biblical Studies, Cedarville University, Ohio Christians have traditionally read the strange and powerful book of Esther by making it fit our ideas of how piety ought to work. John Anthony Dunne challenges us to do it the other way around: to allow the story to be itself, and to expand our ideas of how God works in the world, and through his people, to include the story as it really is. This is an eye-opening book, engaging with both the popular images and scholarly puzzles that often get in the way, and presenting a lucid and attractive case for a radically different reading. --N. T. Wright, Research Professor of New Testament, University of St. Andrews, UK

Author Information

John Anthony Dunne (MA, MA, Talbot School of Theology) is a PhD Candidate under the supervision of Professor N. T. Wright at the University of St Andrews.

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