The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestinian History

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Psychology Press, 1996 - History - 281 pages
The Invention of Ancient Israel shows how the history of ancient Palestine has been obscured by the search for Israel. Keith W. Whitelam argues that ancient Israel has been invented by scholars in the image of a European nation state. 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'.
Keith W. Whitelam's groundbreaking study argues that Biblical scholars, through their traditional view of this region, have contributed to dispossession of both a Palestinian land and a Palestinian past. This is important reading for historians, biblical specialists, social anthropologists and all those who are interested in the history of ancient Israel and Palestine.
 

Contents

DENYING SPACE AND TIME TO PALESTINIAN
37
INVENTING ANCIENT ISRAEL
71
THE CREATION OF AN ISRAELITE STATE
122
THE CONTINUING SEARCH
176
RECLAIMING PALESTINIAN HISTORY
223
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About the author (1996)

Keith W. Whitelam is Professor of Religious Studies and Head of Department at the University of Stirling. He is the co-author of The Emergence of Early Israel in Historical Perspective (1987), and has produced a series of articles on ancient Israelite and Palestinian history.

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