The ‘coming-out’ of a hero: The character of Esther in LXX-Esther revisited

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title The ‘coming-out’ of a hero: The character of Esther in LXX-Esther revisited
 
Creator de Beer, Sanrie M.
 
Subject — LXX-Esther; monomyth; Judaism; hero myth; initiation rite
Description The account of the hero is often depicted as a narratological journey which, with reference to the ground-breaking work of Campbell (2008), is referred to as the monomyth. The basic outline of all monomyths is an account of how a hero embarks on a journey, meets a major crisis and then returns back home altered in some way. This change does not only benefit the hero but is also to the advantage of the community that he or she hails from. This study examines the possibility that the story of Esther fits the prerequisites of a monomyth and argues that the additions (Additions A, B, C, D, E and F) to LXX-Esther give emphasis to and reinforce the impression of the hero-myth underlying the story. The therapeutic and transforming qualities of the hero story, narrated in LXX-Esther, are examined in more detail. It is concluded that this hero story fulfils two basic human functions: an epistemic function and a restorative function.Contribution: This article contributes to HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies’s’ contested Historical Thought and Source Interpretation by focusing on textual and hermeneutical studies, and narratives behind the Abrahamic religion as expressed in the Hebrew Scriptures, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha and the Septuagint.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2021-01-27
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v77i4.6279
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 77, No 4 (2021); 9 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6279/17073 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6279/17072 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6279/17074 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6279/17071
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2021 Sanrie M. De Beer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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