Bybellees en wederstrewigheid - lesersreaksie op God en Ester

Abstract

Bible reading and recalcitrance - reader reaction on God and Esther

This article pleads for an open pluralism regarding people's thinking about God. In an answer to the question of how one comes to grips with such a pluralism an aesthetic approach may be instrumental in bringing the biblical text closer to the present-day reader. Such an approach acknowledges an aesthetic distance between the text and its readers. Following Jauβs Ᾰsthetische Erfahrung und literarische Hermeneutik literature is regarded as a communication process in which the author(s), text and readers have equal shares. The approach is illustrated by a reading of the Book of Esther, focusing on Esther's behaviour in chapter 9 and the gaps implying divine action. Instead of a God in control of history, the reading opts for an openness and Gelassenheit towards a notion of holy that is incomprehensible and strange. The article argues against ignoring the human aspect in the reading process which turns Bible reading into an authoritarianism suppressing any imagination.