Do you still remember the Esther paper I presented at the SABS conference in Indonesia last July?

I am thrilled to announce that the paper was accepted for publication at theinnovative academic journal Biblical Interpretation: A Journal of Contemporary Approaches (Dutch-based) in January 2019. So far this is the article in which I have invested the most time and energy (research-wise and writing-wise). More than 18 months have past since its very first inception, it has touched on a number of sensitive issues on the scholarly interpretations of the book of Esther and naturally has attracted polarised reviews. I will be happy to share with you all its background story when it finally sees the light of day~ Stay tuned!🤓

Here is the abstract of my accepted article:

The present article seeks to describe, analyse, and evaluate the modern scholarly attempts to grapple with the moral issues about good and evil in the Hebrew Esther story. The first part of the article examines the anti-Semitic sentiments looming behind the pre-World War II European, especially the Protestant, commentators’ ethics assessments of the book of Esther and its Jewish characters, before pointing out a blind spot in these assessments. The second part of the article offers a systematic analysis of the gradual change of attitude induced mainly by the Jewish scholars in the aftermath of the Second World War. Lastly, the paper turns the spotlight on the Esther studies conducted by recent feminist and other marginalized biblical scholars. Attempts are made to demonstrate how their works, coming from different social contexts, enrich the academic discussions about the notion of good and evil in the book of Esther.

In the meantime, check out the other cutting-edge articles on the Biblical Interpretation website.