The Book of Hiding: Gender, Ethnicity, Annihilation, and Esther

The Book of Hidingoffers a fluent analysis of the parallels between the Bible and contemporary discussions of gender, ethnicity and social ambiguity. Timothy K. Beal focuses particularly on the traditionally marginalized book of Esther, to examine closely the categories of self and other in relation to religion, sexism, nationalism, and the legacies and future possibilities of annihilation. The author applies the critical tools of contemporary theorists, such as Cixous, Irigaray and Lacan, challenging widely held assumptions about the moral and life-affirming message of Scripture and even about the presence of God in the book of Esther.