Esther and Her Elusive God

"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