Proto-Israelites: The Story of a Misleading Term
Open accessAbstract
The prefix “proto”, originally from the Greek, carries several meanings, including first, earliest, original and primitive. A “prototype” is the first or original type, and “proto” may indicate something in the way of becoming. In this article we offer a critical review of the history and uses of the term “proto-Israelites” in biblical and archaeological studies since 1943. The prehistory of ‘early Israel’ has shrunk from the Early Bronze to the Iron Age, but the use of “proto-Israel” has grown since the 1990s, tied to issues of historicity and ethnicity. “Proto-Israelite” is a misleading term. It enables scholars to re-find a united, ethnic Israel, by projecting it onto the past in disguise, as “proto-Israel”. There are no “proto-people” that carry “proto-ethnicity”. The use of “proto-Israelites” serves modern ideologies. We suggest more neutral terms, which do not beg the question whether an Israelite ethnic community existed, or can be identified in material remains of the Iron Age I.
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- Authors
- Kletter, R., Niesiołowski-Spanò, Ł., & Pfoh, E.
- Affiliations
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- University of Warsaw, Faculty of History, Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28, 00-927 Warsaw, Poland
- Corresponding author
- Kletter, Raz
- Pfoh, Emanuel
- Venue
- Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2023-07-03
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 187-209
- ISSN
- 0901-8328 (ISSN-L)
- 1502-7244
- OpenAlex
- W4388204816
- Cited by
- 0
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Funders
- Uniwersytet Warszawski
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Biblical Studies and Interpretation
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient Near East History
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies
- Keywords
- early Israel, Iron Age I, Early Bronze Age, historicity, terminology, biblical archaeology, historiography
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