The legendary story of the ten lost tribes of Israel has resonated among both Jews and Christians down through the centuries: the compelling idea that some core group of humanity was "lost" and exiled to a secret place, perhaps someday to return triumphant. In this fascinating book, Zvi Ben-Dor Benite shows for the first time the extent to which the search for the lost tribes of Israel became, over two millennia, an engine for global exploration and a key mechanism for understanding the world. As the book reveals, the quest for the missing tribes and the fervent belief that their restitution marked a necessary step toward global redemption have been threaded through countless historical moments-from the formation of the first "world" empires to the age of discovery, and from the spread of European imperialism to the rise of modern-day evangelical apocalypticism. Drawing on a wealth of sources and presenting a vast array of historical players-explorers, politicians, scientists, geographers, and theologians-the author traces the myth from its biblical formation up through the present day. We see how the lost tribes, long thought to lurk at the world's "edges," became a means for expanding those edges: as new oceans, islands, or continents were discovered, the ten tribes were used as an interpretive device that made the unknown seem known and the new, old. Thus, virtually every spot on earth, whether Argentina or Zululand, the American Southwest or Southeast Asia, has at some point been claimed as the true home of the missing peoples. More than a historical survey of an enduring myth, The Ten Lost Tribes offers a unique prism through which to view the many facets of encounters between cultures, the processes of colonization, and the growth of geographical knowledge.
The concept of the Ten Lost Tribes dates back to the exile of the Israelite kingdom in 722 BCE. Whereas the progeny of the tribes of Judea, Judah, and Benjamin were eventually permitted to return to their lands, there are, curiously, no biblical records regarding the whereabouts of the ten northern tribes. Ben-Dor Benite's insightful analysis reveals a direct link between the search for the Tribes and the rise of geographical knowledge, shedding new light on the theological dimension associated with the emergence of modern consciousness, and the theological crisis associated with the age of discoveries. The theme of the absent land and the peculiar myth of the Tribes provide the historian with a unique prism to analyze the many-faceted aspects of encounters between cultures and the processes of colonization.
Hinweis: Dieser Artikel kann nur an eine deutsche Lieferadresse ausgeliefert werden.
The concept of the Ten Lost Tribes dates back to the exile of the Israelite kingdom in 722 BCE. Whereas the progeny of the tribes of Judea, Judah, and Benjamin were eventually permitted to return to their lands, there are, curiously, no biblical records regarding the whereabouts of the ten northern tribes. Ben-Dor Benite's insightful analysis reveals a direct link between the search for the Tribes and the rise of geographical knowledge, shedding new light on the theological dimension associated with the emergence of modern consciousness, and the theological crisis associated with the age of discoveries. The theme of the absent land and the peculiar myth of the Tribes provide the historian with a unique prism to analyze the many-faceted aspects of encounters between cultures and the processes of colonization.
Hinweis: Dieser Artikel kann nur an eine deutsche Lieferadresse ausgeliefert werden.