Esther is one of only two books in the Bible to be named after a woman (the other is Ruth). It is also one of only two books in the Bible not to explicitly mention God (the other is the erotic poetry in the Song of Songs). Spending a bit of time with Esther helps us to confront unjust leaders, even today.
American Christians often wonder exactly how their faith and politics ought to intersect. It’s an understandable confusion, especially for those who value freedom of belief and religious diversity. I often hear that we should “keep politics out of the pulpit,” but doing so is a theological impossibility for those who take Jesus’ teachings seriously because Christianity is inherently political.
There’s been a lot of conversation recently about whether we still need to use the term “progressive” as a qualifier for Christian. As a movement, we’ve been using the label for about 3 decades, and with so many cultural shifts, it’s only natural to raise the question of whether it still fits.