The politics of Israel's past
Subtitle: the Bible, archaeology and nation-building
By: edited by Emanuel Pfoh and Keith W. Whitelam
Series: Social world of biblical antiquity -- second series, 8; Social world of biblical antiquity series -- 2nd ser., 8.
Publisher: Sheffield Phoenix Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Sheffield
Language: eng
Number of pages: 249
ISBN-13: 9781907534829
Subjects: Bible and politics; Antiquities; Nation-building
Description: "It is not uncommon that historical images&#x2014;presented as simply given, self-evident and even indisputable&#x2014;are employed in political readings of the past and used as a legitimizing tool. For that reason, the authors of this volume, biblical scholars, archaeologists, anthropologists and historians, undertake a deconstruction of modern biblical discourses on the Bible&#x2019;s production and the history of ancient Israel, enabling the exploration of critical approaches to ancient Palestine&#x2019;s past, to the history of the peoples of the region, to the history of the biblical text(s) and, last but not least, to the modern political uses of biblical narratives as legitimizing land ownership and nationalisms. Among the topics treated are the appearance of Judaism and its connection to the production of biblical literature, the politics of archaeological practice in Israel, the role of archaeology in the production of nationalist narratives of the past, the relationship between genetic studies and Jewish nationalism, and the prospects for writing critical histories of ancient Palestine beyond biblical images and religious and political aspirations. Each article illustrates the close relationship between the Bible, archaeology and processes of nation-building in the State of Israel. The Politics of Israel&#x2019;s Past concerns itself both with the ways in which contemporary politics affects the knowledge of the past and with the processes by which constructions of an ancient past legitimate modern political situations."--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 212-241) and index.
Table of contents: title: Some reflections on the politics of ancient history, archaeological practice and nation-building in Israel/Palestine  -- Emanuel Pfoh; title: Tribes, genealogies and the composition of the Hebrew Bible  -- Ingrid Hjelm; title: In search of platonic Israel  -- Philippe Wajdenbaum; title: What we do and do not know about pre-Hellenistic al-quds  -- Thomas L. Thompson; title: The faithful remnant and the invention of religio-ethnic identity  -- Firas Sawah; title: The faithful remnant and religious identity: the literary trope of return -- A reply to Firas Sawah  -- Thomas L. Thompson; title: Christian origins, 'the land' and the ideological scholarly apparatuses  -- James G. Crossley; title: History as an argument for land possession  -- Niels Peter Lemche; title: Israeli archaeology in the old city of Jerusalem  -- Gideon Sulimany; title: Archaeology in Israel, 1948-1973: selected documents  -- Raz Kletter; title: Israel and Palestine: a critique of how to create and anchor a nation-state archaeologically  -- Terje Oestigaard; title: Biology as history  -- Nadia Abu El-Haj; title: Shaping the history of Palestine: nationalism and exclusivity -- Keith W. Whitelam.