God and Politics in Esther

This book explores the political crisis that erupts when the Persian government falls to fanatics and a Jewish insider goes rogue.

Yoram Hazony (Author)

9781107132054, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 December 2015

254 pages
24.2 x 16.1 x 2.1 cm, 0.55 kg

'God and Politics in Esther presents a serious political philosophy as well as a sophisticated reading of a Jewish festival too often cast in terms of a mere costume party. With expansive readings of the story of Joseph, an exegesis of the idea central behind the destruction of Amalek, and an interpretation of the political meaning of idolatry, it's not for the faint of heart. And though Hazony's style sometimes bends toward the archaic, it's a small price to pay for the bigness of his ideas.' Ashley Rindsberg, The Huffington Post

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.

Subject Areas: Sacred texts [HRLC], Judaism: theology [HRJT], Judaism [HRJ], History of religion [HRAX], Religion & politics [HRAM2], Social & cultural history [HBTB]