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The Invention of Ancient Israel

The Silencing of Palestinian History

Keith W Whitelam author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:11th Jan '96

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The Invention of Ancient Israel cover

The Invention of Ancient Israel shows how the true history of ancient Palestine has been obscured by the search for Israel. Keith W. Whitelam shows how ancient Israel has been invented by scholars in the image of a European nation state, influenced by the realisation of the state of Israel in 1948. He explores the theological and political assumptions which have shaped research into ancient Israel by Biblical scholars, and contributed to the vast network of scholarship which Said identified as 'Orientalist discourse'.
This study concentrates on two crucial periods from the end of the late Bronze Age to the Iron Age, a so-called period of the emergence of ancient Israel and the rise of an Israelite state under David. It explores the prospects for developing the study of Palestinian history as a subject in its own right, divorced from the history of the Bible, and argues that Biblical scholars, through their traditional view of this area, have contributed to dispossession both of a Palestinian land and a Palestinian past.
This contoversial book is important reading for historians, Biblical specialists, social anthropologists and all those who are interested in the history of ancient Israel and Palestine.

'Keith Whitlam's work serves to remind us what a vital if fraught exercise it still is to engage explicitly with the unique cultural influence of the Old Testament on the contemporary world.' - The Friend

'This is a brave, fascinating and important book ... constantly thought provoking and controversial.' - Sunday Times

'Whitelam can (and will) be criticized for introducing politics into "ancient Israel", he is merely exposing it - and the Palestinians are after all the major victims of a zionizing European and American biblical scholarship. This book should be in paperback, and compulsory reading.' - Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

ISBN: 9780415107587

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 700g

292 pages