Whitelam, Keith W. The invention of ancient Israel: the silencing of Palestinian history. London: Routledge, 1996

Uitti, Roger W.

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 25Issue 2 The Arts and the Church Article 1211-1-1999The invention of ancient Israel: the silencing ofPalestinian historyRoger W. UittiFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationUitti, Roger W. (1999) "The invention of ancient Israel: the silencing of Palestinian history," Consensus: Vol. 25 : Iss. 2 , Article 12.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol25/iss2/12The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestinian HistoryKeith W. WhitelamLondon and New York, NY: Routledge, 1997viii + 281 pages, $22.99 GS PaperbackThis monograph is a sobering reminder of the subtle biases that attend allhistorical writing and reconstruction. Its author, Keith W. Whitelam, professor ofreligious studies and department head at the University of Stirling, holds that thepresent customary historical delineation of ancient Israel is a scholarly invention,essentially a self-serving and conscious enterprise that has effectively snuffed outPalestine’s true past because of a desire to give support to biblical and Christianpreoccupations as well as affirmation to the rise and legitimacy of the modemstate of Israel:For the last two centuries, Palestinian history has become one of themany “excluded” histories as a result of the stranglehold on the study ofPalestine and the ancient Near East which biblical specialists, historians,and archaeologists, have exerted. The consequence of this has beenthat Palestinian history has been denied a place in Western academicdiscourse. Europe’s strategic concern with Palestine coincided with itsquest for the roots of its own civilization as identified with ancient Israeland the Bible. Biblical scholars, accepting, in broad outline, theconstruction of the past offered by biblical traditions began the searchfor Israel’s physical presence among the monuments and ruins of theland. What they found, or were predisposed to find, was an Israel whichresembled their own nation states: Israel was presented as an incipientnation state in search of a national homeland in which to express itsnational consciousness. Throughout the present century, thisprojection of ancient Israel has come to dominate and control the LateBronze and Iron Ages. It is a representation of the past which was givenadded urgency and authority with the rise of the Zionist movement, anessentially European enterprise, whose own history was seen to mirrorancient Israel’s conquest of the land followed by the founding of a nationstate which soon dominated the region (223).To date, Whitelam argues, the histories of the land of Palestine (Albright, Alt,Bright, Finkelstein, Gottwald, Flayes, Mendenhall, Miller, Soggin, Wright) andeven those which have consciously attempted to distance themselves frombiblical and Israeli interests (Ahlstrom, Lemche, Coote, Thompson), have turnedout essentially to be “histories of Israel”. There has been little effort whatsoeverto define the territory under scrutiny in broader cultural terms. Thus thismonograph lays out a compelling case for the one-sidedness of Christian andIsraeli historiography to the present.116 ConsensusHowever, one wishes the author would have spent some time and spacespelling out what a truly “Palestinian” history of the area - freed from theconfining restraints of biblical, Israelite, and Israeli self-congratulations - wouldactually look like. The present volume is strong on the critique of the past and thepresent but not very strong on what the future should be. As such the work ismore a prolegomenon and strident call to stop what we are doing to“Palestinians” than a how to go about doing the new and more correct thing.Hopefully such a second volume is not too far off, although its production maynot be as easy as one might think in view of the nature of the evidence andresources available for it.In conclusion, this review will have accomplished its objective should you thereader be encouraged to read this paperback. Although this study gives focus toparticular voices silenced in a specific part of the world, the broadermethodological questions raised might inspire us to revisit the histories of othermarginalized, possibly misrepresented, or even unrepresented peoples muchcloser to us.Roger W. GittiLutheran Theological SeminaryThe Gospel of John in the Light of the Old TestamentClaus WestermannTranslated by Siegfried SchatzmannMassachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998103 pages, $15.99 SoftcoverWhen reading this short commentary on the Gospel of John, 1 felt that 1 waswading into a large and complex debate among New Testament scholars. Thisdebate centres on the degree of Gnostic influence on the Gospel. Westermann,an Old Testament scholar, takes a brief but deep plunge into the sterile yet potentwaters of redaction and form criticism. He implies false dichotomy in thequestion: Do we interpret the Gospel as Gnostic writing, or as a Christian writing,“in which Gnostic elements are not meant in a Gnostic sense?”Instead, one criterion that explains the contrast between Gnostic and non-Gnostic elements in the Gospel, asserts Westermann, “is how the Gnostic and thenon-Gnostic motifs relate to the Old Testament.” His argument is built on theunderstanding that the Gospel is divided into two layers of redaction: a later layerand an earlier layer.According to Westermann, there is only one component of the Gospel that

The invention of ancient Israel: the silencing of Palestinian history

Scholars Commons

Consensus
Volume 25
Issue 2 The Arts and the Church Article 12
11-1-1999
The invention of ancient Israel: the silencing of
Palestinian history
Roger W. Uitti
Follow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus
This Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by an
authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.
Recommended Citation
Uitti, Roger W. (1999) "The invention of ancient Israel: the silencing of Palestinian history," Consensus: Vol. 25 : Iss. 2 , Article 12.
Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol25/iss2/12
The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestinian History
Keith W. Whitelam
London and New York, NY: Routledge, 1997
viii + 281 pages, $22.99 GS Paperback
This monograph is a sobering reminder of the subtle biases that attend all
historical writing and reconstruction. Its author, Keith W. Whitelam, professor of
religious studies and department head at the University of Stirling, holds that the
present customary historical delineation of ancient Israel is a scholarly invention,
essentially a self-serving and conscious enterprise that has effectively snuffed out
Palestine’s true past because of a desire to give support to biblical and Christian
preoccupations as well as affirmation to the rise and legitimacy of the modem
state of Israel:
For the last two centuries, Palestinian history has become one of the
many “excluded” histories as a result of the stranglehold on the study of
Palestine and the ancient Near East which biblical specialists, historians,
and archaeologists, have exerted. The consequence of this has been
that Palestinian history has been denied a place in Western academic
discourse. Europe’s strategic concern with Palestine coincided with its
quest for the roots of its own civilization as identified with ancient Israel
and the Bible. Biblical scholars, accepting, in broad outline, the
construction of the past offered by biblical traditions began the search
for Israel’s physical presence among the monuments and ruins of the
land. What they found, or were predisposed to find, was an Israel which
resembled their own nation states: Israel was presented as an incipient
nation state in search of a national homeland in which to express its
national consciousness. Throughout the present century, this
projection of ancient Israel has come to dominate and control the Late
Bronze and Iron Ages. It is a representation of the past which was given
added urgency and authority with the rise of the Zionist movement, an
essentially European enterprise, whose own history was seen to mirror
ancient Israel’s conquest of the land followed by the founding of a nation
state which soon dominated the region (223).
To date, Whitelam argues, the histories of the land of Palestine (Albright, Alt,
Bright, Finkelstein, Gottwald, Flayes, Mendenhall, Miller, Soggin, Wright) and
even those which have consciously attempted to distance themselves from
biblical and Israeli interests (Ahlstrom, Lemche, Coote, Thompson), have turned
out essentially to be “histories of Israel”. There has been little effort whatsoever
to define the territory under scrutiny in broader cultural terms. Thus this
monograph lays out a compelling case for the one-sidedness of Christian and
Israeli historiography to the present.
116 Consensus
However, one wishes the author would have spent some time and space
spelling out what a truly “Palestinian” history of the area - freed from the
confining restraints of biblical, Israelite, and Israeli self-congratulations - would
actually look like. The present volume is strong on the critique of the past and the
present but not very strong on what the future should be. As such the work is
more a prolegomenon and strident call to stop what we are doing to
“Palestinians” than a how to go about doing the new and more correct thing.
Hopefully such a second volume is not too far off, although its production may
not be as easy as one might think in view of the nature of the evidence and
resources available for it.
In conclusion, this review will have accomplished its objective should you the
reader be encouraged to read this paperback. Although this study gives focus to
particular voices silenced in a specific part of the world, the broader
methodological questions raised might inspire us to revisit the histories of other
marginalized, possibly misrepresented, or even unrepresented peoples much
closer to us.
Roger W. Gitti
Lutheran Theological Seminary
The Gospel of John in the Light of the Old Testament
Claus Westermann
Translated by Siegfried Schatzmann
Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998
103 pages, $15.99 Softcover
When reading this short commentary on the Gospel of John, 1 felt that 1 was
wading into a large and complex debate among New Testament scholars. This
debate centres on the degree of Gnostic influence on the Gospel. Westermann,
an Old Testament scholar, takes a brief but deep plunge into the sterile yet potent
waters of redaction and form criticism. He implies false dichotomy in the
question: Do we interpret the Gospel as Gnostic writing, or as a Christian writing,
“in which Gnostic elements are not meant in a Gnostic sense?”
Instead, one criterion that explains the contrast between Gnostic and non-
Gnostic elements in the Gospel, asserts Westermann, “is how the Gnostic and the
non-Gnostic motifs relate to the Old Testament.” His argument is built on the
understanding that the Gospel is divided into two layers of redaction: a later layer
and an earlier layer.
According to Westermann, there is only one component of the Gospel that


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