Trends in Recent Esther Scholarship (2000-2025)

The book of Esther persists in the margins of biblical scholarship. By all estimations, Esther is a ‘strange’ book of the Bible. It features a beautiful female orphan who hides her Jewish identity and marries the Gentile king of Persia. Wine, sex, and violence figure prominently, yet the book neglects mention of God, Torah, or Temple. The book of Esther has long puzzled and beguiled its interpreters over the centuries. Recent biblical scholarship underscores how the book tends to modern questions, including those concerning sexuality, gender, ethnicity, identity, class, power, and the use of violence. Following a significant expansion in Esther research along these lines, this essay traces major trends in the field over the last 25 years (2000-2025). Beginning with a summary of historical-, text-and source-critical research that precedes this period, this essay shows how recent advances in Esther study branch out from earlier trends in four critical areas: (1) feminist and gender-critical study; (2) postcolonial and intersectional analysis; (3) interpreting violence(s) in Esther, and (4) exploring intertextuality.