God and Politics in Esther

by Yoram Hazony

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107583450
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/21/2015
Edition description:	2nd Revised ed.
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.59(d)

About the Author

Yoram Hazony is President of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem. He is founder and past president of the Shalem Center, now Shalem College. His books include The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture (Cambridge, 2012) and The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul (2009). Hazony directs the John Templeton Foundation's project in Jewish Philosophical Theology and is a member of the Israel Council for Higher Education's committee on liberal studies in Israel's universities. He is a member of the Public Council of the Orthodox rabbinical organization Beit Hillel.

Table of Contents

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.

Editorial Reviews

"Without fanfare, Hazony takes us step by step through the plot and personalities inherent in the megillah, and through his scholarship gives us a true, adult, sophisticated view of historical events that were to inspire and teach us the greatness of our faith and of our G-d."
Alan Jay Gerber, The Jewish Star

"For anyone who is seeking an understanding of an ancient biblical text that is not only exceptionally original and insightful but is also incredibly relevant for today's world, Hazony's new book is a must."
Yoel Meltzer, The Times of Israel Blogs (blogs.timesofisrael.com)

"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

From the Publisher