  By considering the realization of the emergent universe scenario in
Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld (EiBI) theory, we study the stability of the
Einstein static universe filled with perfect fluid in EiBI theory against both
the homogeneous and inhomogeneous scalar perturbations in this work. We find
that in both the spatially flat and closed cases, the emergent universe
scenario is no longer viable, since the Einstein static universe cannot be
stable against both the homogeneous and inhomogeneous scalar perturbations
simultaneously. However, the emergent universe scenario survives in the
spatially open case, while the Einstein static universe can be stable under
some conditions.
