God and Politics in Esther
Cambridge University Press
Edition: 2, 2/4/2016
EAN 9781107583450, ISBN10: 1107583454
Paperback, 284 pages, 23.4 x 15.6 x 1.8 cm
Language: English
A political crisis erupts when the Persian government falls to fanatics, and a Jewish insider goes rogue, determined to save her people at all costs. God and Politics in Esther explores politics and faith. It is about an era in which the prophets have been silenced and miracles have ceased, and Jewish politics has come to depend not on commands from on high, but on the boldness and belief of each woman and man. Esther takes radical action to win friends and allies, reverse terrifying decrees, and bring God's justice into the world with her own hands. Hazony's The Dawn has long been a cult classic, read at Purim each year the world over. Twenty years on, this revised edition brings the book to much wider attention. Three controversial new chapters address the astonishingly radical theology that emerges from amid the political intrigues of the book.
Preface
Introduction
Esther One
1. Submission and rule
Esther Two
2. Political favor
Esther Three
3. The enemy
4. The king's men
5. Idolatry
6. Disobedience
7. Joseph
8. Amalek
9. Anti-Semitism
Esther Four
10. Pressure
11. Court Jew
12. The decision
Esther Five
13. The plan
14. Reaction
Esther Six
15. Power shift
16. Downfall
17. Allies
Esther Seven
18. The last appeal
19. Political power
20. The Jews' war
21. The morality of war
Esther Nine
22. The festival
23. Politics and faith
Afterword
I. A missile over Tel Aviv
II. God and emergence
III. God casts no shadow
Notes
Index of names
Index of scriptural references
The Hebrew Esther text.