Gustaf Dalman, Arbeit und Sitte in Palästina: Just the 'Normal' late 19th-Century Mix of Antisemitism and Orientalism?

Gustaf Dalman's magnum opus, Arbeit und Sitte in Palästina (AuS), published in seven volumes between 1928 and 1942 with a posthumous fragmentary eighth volume published in 2001, remains one of the greatest works of modern biblical scholarship. Beginning with a description of the course of the y...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hagedorn, Anselm C. 1971- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2025
In: Hebrew bible and ancient Israel
Year: 2025, Volume: 14, Issue: 1, Pages: 73-97
Further subjects:B Early Anthropology of Palestine
B Palästinawissenschaft
B Gustaf Dalman
B mission to the Jews
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Gustaf Dalman's magnum opus, Arbeit und Sitte in Palästina (AuS), published in seven volumes between 1928 and 1942 with a posthumous fragmentary eighth volume published in 2001, remains one of the greatest works of modern biblical scholarship. Beginning with a description of the course of the year and ending with funerary customs, the work comprehensively covers all aspects of late 19th and early 20thcentury life in Palestine and Syria. This article will investigate how a scholar deeply influenced by a sense of (Christian) mission to the Jews single-handedly invented a new strand of science (Palästinawissenschaft) and engaged in anthropological fieldwork and thinking before the rise of social anthropology as a discipline. Dalman's work represents a "radically ambivalent" (Z. Bauman) attitude towards Jews and Judaism which drove his scholarship and is often rooted in antisemitic tropes. That these tropes do not permeate the pages of Arbeit und Sitte is a schizophrenic strand that is so typical for biblical scholarship of the time.
ISSN:2192-2284
Contains:Enthalten in: Hebrew bible and ancient Israel
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1628/hebai-2025-0007