| Israel, the Impossible Land Contributor(s): Attias, Jean-Christophe (Author), Benbassa, Esther (Author), Emanuel, Susan (Translator) |
|
 |
ISBN: 0804741123 ISBN-13: 9780804741125 Publisher: Stanford University Press OUR PRICE: $123.50 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: December 2002 Annotation: "Jean-Christophe Attias and Esther Benbassa have written an elegant and erudite book demonstrating the complex relationship to the land of Israel throughout Jewish history."--American Historical Review |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Religion | Judaism - Theology |
| Dewey: 296.311 |
| LCCN: 2002013518 |
| Series: Stanford Studies in Jewish History and Culture |
| Physical Information: 0.93" H x 6.56" W x 9.52" (1.14 lbs) 304 pages |
| Themes: - Religious Orientation - Jewish |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: What has the land of Israel meant for the Jewish imagination? This book provides a lively and readable answer, covering Biblical times to the present. Its aim is to pierce the mystery of the images of Israel, to grasp their meaning and function, to trace their origins and history, and to resituate in historical terms the fertile mythology that has peopled and continues to people the Jewish imagination, interposing a screen between a people and their land. Describing the real, however, is not sufficient to disqualify the myths. The authors believe, with the famous French historian Pierre Vidal-Naquet, that: "Things are not so simple. Myth is not opposed to the real as the false to the true; myth accompanies the real." Today, Israel is an undeniable fact and no longer has to legitimize its existence. It is in the midst of living through the crises of adulthood. The authors simply want to reconstitute and trace the genealogies of these contemporary crises. Only upon a clear understanding of this present and this past can a future be constructed. |