Language:
German
Year of publication:
2012
Titel der Quelle:
Francia; Forschungen zur westeuropäischen Geschichte
Angaben zur Quelle:
36 (2012) 535-541
Keywords:
Renan, Ernest,
;
Sand, Shlomo
;
Jews Historiography
Abstract:
Discusses Shlomo Sand's introduction to the Hebrew, French, and English editions (2008-2010) of Ernest Renan's essays "Qu'est-de que c'est qu'une nation" (1882) and "Le judaisme comme race et comme religion" (1883). Sand contends that these texts contributed to establishing a foundation for national identity beyond volkisch-nationalistic thought, especially with regard to Judaism and the state of Israel. Basing himself on Renan, Sand seeks to update his controversial thesis of 2008, which replaces the Zionist narrative of the ethnic and historical continuity of Judaism since biblical times with the view that Judaism constitutes a religious, supra-ethnic community. Geiger criticizes Sand for downplaying Renan's antisemitism and racism, and for limiting himself to Renan's few "positive" works, like "Le judaisme comme race et comme religion". Geigner contends that the fact that the intellectual history of Zionism and the half-offical Israeli view of history has some weak sides (like the recent "genetic studies", which are the reverse of antisemitic racial theories), does not prove that the opposite is true. In promoting a "counter-myth" to the Zionist myth, Sand succumbs to the same politically biased historiography that he criticizes.
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