Narrative And Other Readings In The Book Of Esther

Author : Else K. Holt
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0567697622
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.22/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Narrative and Other Readings in the Book of Esther written by Else K. Holt and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-04-08 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays considers the Book of Esther from a literary and sociological perspective. In part one, Else Holt outlines the main questions of historical-critical research in the Book of Esther. She also discusses the theological meaning of a biblical book without God, and examines how the book was transmitted through the last centuries BCE. She also explores how the Hebrew and Greek variants of the Book of Esther picture its main character, Esther, the Jewish queen of Persia. In part two, Holt offers deconstructive reading of themes hidden under the surface-levels of the book. Chapters include discussions of Esther's initiation into her role as Persian queen; the inter-textual conversation with two much later texts, The Arabian Nights and The Story of O; and the relationship between Mordecai, the Jew, and his opponent Haman, the Agagite, as a matter of mimetic doublings. The last part of the book introduces the sociological concept of ethnicity-construction as the backdrop for perceiving the instigation of the Jewish festival Purim and the violence connected to it, and looks at the Book of Esther as an example of trauma literature. The concluding chapter analyses the moral quality of the book of Esther, asking the question: Is it a bedtime story?

Author : Jonathan Grossman
Publisher : Eisenbrauns
ISBN 13 : 9781575062211
Total Pages : 255 pages
Book Rating : 4.16/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Esther written by Jonathan Grossman and published by Eisenbrauns. This book was released on 2011 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using narrative devices such as allusions and free associations, multivalent expressions, and irony, the author of Esther wrote a story that is about a Jewish woman, Esther, during the time of the Persian exile of Yehudites, and the Persian king, Ahasuerus, who was in power at the time. At various junctures, the author also used secret writing, or we could say that he conveys mixed messages: one is a surface message, but another, often conflicting message lies beneath the surface. For instance, the outer portrayal of the king as one of the main protagonists is an ironic strategy used by the author to highlight the king's impotent, indecisive, "antihero" status. He may wield authority-as symbolized by his twice-delegated signet ring-but he remains powerless. Among all the concealments in the story, the concealment of God stands out as the most prominent and influential example. A growing number of scholars regard the book of Esther as a "comic diversion," the function and intention of which are to entertain the reader. However, Grossman is more convinced by Mikhail Bakhtin's approach, and he labels his application of this approach to the reading of Esther as "theological carnivalesque." Bakhtin viewed the carnival (or the carnivalesque genre) as a challenge by the masses to the governing establishment and to accepted social conventions. He described the carnival as an eruption of ever-present but suppressed popular sentiments. The connection between the story of Esther and Bakhtin's characterization of the carnivalesque in narrative is evident especially in the book of Esther's use of the motifs of "reversal" and "transformation." For example, the young girl Esther is transformed from an exiled Jewess into a queen in one of the turnabouts that characterize the narrative. Many more examples are provided in this analysis of one of the Bible's most fascinating books.

Author : Jonathan Grossman
Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 1575066580
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.85/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Esther written by Jonathan Grossman and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2011-06-23 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using narrative devices such as allusions and free associations, multivalent expressions, and irony, the author of Esther wrote a story that is about a Jewish woman, Esther, during the time of the Persian exile of Yehudites, and the Persian king, Ahasuerus, who was in power at the time. At various junctures, the author also used secret writing, or we could say that he conveys mixed messages: one is a surface message, but another, often conflicting message lies beneath the surface. For instance, the outer portrayal of the king as one of the main protagonists is an ironic strategy used by the author to highlight the king’s impotent, indecisive, “antihero” status. He may wield authority—as symbolized by his twice-delegated signet ring—but he remains powerless. Among all the concealments in the story, the concealment of God stands out as the most prominent and influential example. A growing number of scholars regard the book of Esther as a “comic diversion,” the function and intention of which are to entertain the reader. However, Grossman is more convinced by Mikhail Bakhtin’s approach, and he labels his application of this approach to the reading of Esther as “theological carnivalesque.” Bakhtin viewed the carnival (or the carnivalesque genre) as a challenge by the masses to the governing establishment and to accepted social conventions. He described the carnival as an eruption of ever-present but suppressed popular sentiments. The connection between the story of Esther and Bakhtin’s characterization of the carnivalesque in narrative is evident especially in the book of Esther’s use of the motifs of “reversal” and “transformation.” For example, the young girl Esther is transformed from an exiled Jewess into a queen in one of the turnabouts that characterize the narrative. Many more examples are provided in this analysis of one of the Bible’s most fascinating books.

Author : Tsaurayi Kudakwashe Mapfeka
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004406565
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.68/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Esther in Diaspora written by Tsaurayi Kudakwashe Mapfeka and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-06-17 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Esther in Diaspora, Tsaurayi Kudakwashe Mapfeka utilises a theory-nuanced concept of diaspora to offer a new way of reading Esther, in the process, critiquing the traditional view that has relied on its close association with Purim.

Author : John Anthony Dunne
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1620327848
Total Pages : 170 pages
Book Rating : 4.45/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Esther and Her Elusive God written by John Anthony Dunne and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2014-02-12 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Seymour Epstein
Publisher : Mosaic Press
ISBN 13 : 177161465X
Total Pages : 138 pages
Book Rating : 4.58/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Esther Scroll written by Seymour Epstein and published by Mosaic Press. This book was released on 2019-05-03 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seymour Epstein's The Esther Scroll: The Author’s Tale is a bold thesis and a radically new interpretation of The Book of Esther that contends it was written neither as light comedy, nor as sacred history, nor as a romance, nor as a handbook for Jewish survival in the Diaspora. Rather, it is a satire on Jewish life in the Diaspora. "Epstein’s argument stands all previous readings of Esther on their head” (Hillel Halkin, from the Preface).

Author : Joan Wolf
Publisher : Thomas Nelson
ISBN 13 : 1595549838
Total Pages : 386 pages
Book Rating : 4.39/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Reluctant Queen written by Joan Wolf and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2011-06-20 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You've read it as a biblical tale of courage. Experience it anew as a heart-stirring love story. She was a simple girl faced with an impossible choice. He was a magnificent king with a lonely heart. Their love was the divine surprise that changed the course of history. The beloved story of Esther springs to fresh life in this inspired novel that vibrates with mystery, intrigue, and romance. "Joan Wolf never fails to deliver the best!" —Nora Roberts

Author : Catholic Church. National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Bishops' Committee on the Permanent Diaconate
Publisher : USCCB Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9781574553680
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

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Download or read book National Directory for the Formation, Ministry, and Life of Permanent Deacons in the United States written by Catholic Church. National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Bishops' Committee on the Permanent Diaconate and published by USCCB Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The national directory addresses the dimensions and perspectives in the formation of deacons and the model standards for the formation, ministry, and life of deacons in the United States. It is intended as a guideline for formation, ministry, and life of permanent deacons and a directive to be utilized when preparing or updating a diaconate program in formulating policies for the ministry and life of deacons. This volume also includes Basic Standards for Readiness for the formation of permanent deacons in the United States, from the bishops' Committee on the Diaconate, and the committee document Visit of Consultation Teams to Diocesan Permanent Diaconate Formation Programs.

Author : Aaron Koller
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107048354
Total Pages : 277 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought written by Aaron Koller and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-01-09 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book situates the book of Esther in the intellectual history of Ancient Judaism and provides a new understanding of its purpose.

Author : Charlotte Vaughan Coyle
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1666705233
Total Pages : 396 pages
Book Rating : 4.32/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Living in The Story written by Charlotte Vaughan Coyle and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-08-26 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What kind of book is the Bible? Is it a rulebook or a guidebook for moral living? Is it a history book or a book filled with fascinating (and sometimes fantastic) stories? Did humans write the Bible or did God somehow speak a perfect message that the authors transcribed? Many people have asked these questions about the nature of this beautiful, odd, comforting, disturbing book the church calls its “Holy Scripture.” Charlotte Vaughan Coyle shares her own journey to make sense of the Bible in this read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year project. She discovered that the crucial work of asking hard questions and even arguing with the Bible revealed the Scriptures to be a symphony of polyphonic voices, a work of art that paints an alternative vision of reality, a complex novel-like story unavoidably embedded in its own culture and time, and yet able to give witness to the God beyond history who has acted (and continues to act) within history. With the heart of a pastor and the passion of a preacher, Rev. Coyle invites seekers and students (both churched and un-churched) to strap on their scuba gear and join her for a deeper dive beneath the surface of this immense, colorful, mysterious world of the Bible.