In this episode, Kim Dickson and Amber Burgess interview Dr. Karen H. Jobes about Esther. As a lifetime teaching professor, Dr. Jobes skillfully explains the academic complexities of Esther in a way that brings her listeners along to understand the significance of Esther’s story in the broader canon. She describes how Mordechai’s challenge to Esther that she is in her position “for such a time as this,” causes Esther to come into her own, fulfilling who God had created her to be. Dr. Jobes demonstrates how Mordechai and Esther work in mutuality, both submitting in obedience to one another’s authority. She completes the interview highlighting how the text of Esther demonstrates the scriptural redemptive pattern of bringing life from death. 

Bio  

Karen H. Jobes is the Gerald F. Hawthorne Professor Emerita of New Testament Greek and Exegesis at Wheaton College and Graduate School (Illinois).  She earned her doctorate in Biblical Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia, 1995) and has served as a tenured professor at Westmont College (Santa Barbara, CA, 1996–2005) and at Wheaton (2005–2015). She was a translator on the NIV Committee for Bible Translation for many years and is the author of several books and many journal articles. Her research specialty has been the Septuagint as a literary and exegetical background for New Testament interpretation. Jobes is a member of Oreland Evangelical Presbyterian Church and serves as an elder on Session there. 

Other Resources 

Contact Dr. Karen Jobes at [email protected] 

Books Referenced in Interview: 

Karen H. Jobes, Esther: The NIV Application Commentary from Biblical text . . . to contemporary life. 

Karen H. Jobes, The Alpha-Text of Esther: In Character and Relationship to the Masoretic Text, SBL Dissertation Series 153. 

Michael V. Fox, Character & Ideology in the Book of Esther: Second Edition with a New Postscript on a Decade of Esther Scholarship. 

Summary of Karen Jobes as the first woman Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) woman president in: Making Room for Women: 2023 ETS Annual Meeting Recap by Kimberly Dickson 

More CBE Resources on Esther 

Women in Scripture and Mission: Esther  

More Than a Pretty Face 

More Than a Beautiful Body: Star Wars, Beauty Standards, and the Imago Dei Power Brokers: Vashti, Mordecai, and Esther Women Leaders Navigate the Patriarchal Systems of Family and Church: Young Lee Hertig Esther: When God Calls for Disobedience Character Counts Calling all Deborah’s, Esther’s and Junias 

Disclaimer  

The opinions expressed in CBE’s Mutuality Matters’ podcast are those of its hosts or guests do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of CBE International or its members or chapters worldwide. The designations employed in this podcast and the presentation of content therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of CBE concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers.