I was chatting with my friend and Logos colleague Steve Runge on Friday about this paper: “Irrealis in Esther: On Being Told What was Not” (by Hebrew scholar Fred Putnam). Steve described it to me and it sounded fascinating. It is. Basically, the paper is about how the story of Esther is propelled by the things that don’t happen in the story.
How cool is that?
The paper is technical, but all the Hebrew is translated. I think most readers will find it intriguing and insightful. It shows (again) how close reading of the text, even in translation, really matters.
Mike,
I read the paper and found it accessible to a layman, but I didn’t encounter any “Ah Ha” moment. (Itself an irrealis, I suppose…)
Can you explain more about what you found fascinating?
Thank you,
CM
I just thought the notion of reading Scripture for what isn’t in there (what doesn’t happen) was interesting.