Meeting Summary - October 12, 2025

Dear friends, here are the points that we found most significant from our meeting on October 12, 2025.

A- Symbols of faith as equations. The structure of the Bible contains strong propositions of faith—symbols[1]—presented in the form of equations. The most striking are probably יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים / the Lord is God and Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Jesus is Christ[2]. We spoke here of an equation because it involves the same cognitive process that equates two expressions that are a priori totally dissimilar, often with a form of realization, of epiphany (the famous εὕρηκᾰ / Eureka! of Archimedes). This is not a reduction of the Bible to a form of proto-science, but the opposite: the Bible offers itself to both faith AND reason[3].

B- A world without God? The Book of Esther, in its Masoretic version, does not mention the name of God even once, so we must be attentive to the tension-potential that is most often generated by the relationship between the characters and God. If the book is powerful, and we believe it is, this tension-potential must be present.

C- Life in the diaspora. A constitutive element of the Book of Esther is the integration of the Jews into diasporic life. The Temple is also absent from the lives of the characters in the Book. We must therefore be attentive to this absence of any reference to the Land of Israel[4].

D- Ahashverosh. We can reasonably equate Ahasuerus with Xerxes I, which gives us interesting insights into the life and personality of this king.

E- The wealth of detail presented at the beginning of Chapter 1 concerning the palace of Susa is not fanciful, but corresponds precisely to historical data, including the most recent archaeological findings.

F- The current situation in Israel. Beyond any ideological conflict, we can agree that this tiny piece of land in the Middle East remains the place toward which God wants a significant portion of humanity to turn its attention.

G- Next. We now have to delve into the story of the banquet and the calamitous disgrace of Vashti.

[1] In other words, it presents a theology.

[2] One could also think of Jonah, who presents the not-so-obvious identity, at first glance, of the God of destruction who condemns and the God of mercy who accompanies

[3] This is the famous formula of Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109): fides quaerens intellectum, faith seeking understanding.

[4] The story of Esther, if we accept the identification of Ahasuerus with Xerxes I, is contemporary with the reconstruction of the Second Temple, as recounted by Ezra. Two books recounting contemporary events, one entirely focused on the diaspora, the other entirely centered on Jerusalem.