Sem dúvida, na história da Palestina, arqueologia, religião e política se encontram…
PFOH, E.; WHITELAM, K. W. (eds.) The Politics of Israel’s Past: The Bible, Archaeology and Nation-Building. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2013, 270 p. – ISBN 
9781907534829.
O livro A política do passado de Israel: a Bíblia, a arqueologia e a construção da nação trata de duas questões:
. como e em que grau a atual política israelense afeta o conhecimento do antigo Israel?
. como as tentativas de reconstrução histórica do antigo Israel legitimam as opções políticas do Israel atual?
Além de Emanuel Pfoh e Keith W. Whitelam, participam do livro: Ingrid Hjelm, Philippe Wajdenbaum, Thomas L. Thompson, Firas Sawah, James G. Crossley, Niels Peter Lemche, Gideon Sulimany, Raz Kletter, Terje Oestigaardv e Nadia Abu El-Haj.
It is not uncommon that historical images — presented as simply given, self-evident and even indisputable — 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’s production and the history of ancient Israel, enabling the exploration of critical approaches to ancient Palestine’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’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.
Emanuel Pfoh teaches in the Department of History, National University of La Plata, Argentina. Keith W. Whitelam is Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies in the University of Sheffield.
