Esther Keeps the Score: Trauma, Body and Politics in the Hebrew Bible

We can no longer read biblical texts that include explicit and implicit depictions of violence without awareness of trauma. In Esther Keeps the Score, Alexiana Fry challenges conventional interpretations of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament book of Esther. It offers a full treatment of the violence found within, seen through a trauma-informed lens, acknowledging the many shifting contexts and power structures that create significant effect on the characters in the story. Through an analysis of gender and ethnic minoritization in diaspora settings, as well as how this shows itself in emotional and somatic compulsive responses, the book of Esther can be read afresh with empathic eyes.

Understanding Esther with a holistic view on how trauma is created, sustained, and perpetuated in both individuals and collectives due to oppression causes readers to necessarily consider stopping the cycle, both in the book and in their own worlds and lives. A must-read for Old Testament and trauma scholars, preachers, as well as anyone seeking to better understand how trauma operates in biblical narratives, this book reshapes our understanding of Esther’s story and its implications for survival in a hostile world of patriarchy, sexism, misogyny and racism.