Sacred Geography: A Tale of Murder and Archeology in the Holy Land

by Edward Fox

Book Overview

Biblical archeology has for centuries been subject to the manipulations of adventurers, generals, and statesmen, all seeking to further their own aims. Now more than ever, digging into the Holy Land is a weapon as two rival nations seek to prove their claims to ownership. The most puzzling casualty in this tug-of-war is Albert Glock, a prominent American archeologist, who devoted his life to helping Palestinians find evidence of their historic roots...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805071881
• ISBN13: 9780805071887
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Holt McDougal
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Local complexity of Israeli-Palestinian conflict

How important can archeology be today? Unbelievably crucial. In this part of the world it is the justification for worldview, religion, the meaning of life. It seems all of the parties involved come off are charlatans, awful human beings, and trying to justify their own criminality via archeology. This poor Dr Glock gets ineptly kmixed up in it and gets himself killed. No matter how complex the issues of Palestine/Israel appear, they are clearly more complicated. And they are international, national, and LOCAL. The book is clearly written and fun to read. Do not expect an answer. I would have liked even more archeology.

Fascinating and compelling!

A well-written, compelling account of the politics and various agendas of two centuries of archaeology in Palestine and Israel, as well as as a troubling and eye-opening study of social, political, and crime issues in Israel and the Occupied Territories in the '90s.

Provocative,thoughtful, repectful and ultimately balanced

The murder of the archaeologist, Albert Glock,proved the setting for this book's multifacted investigation into turbulent Palestine and Israel. It is an engrossing tale, and excellently written. The author considers a number of credible explanations before, on the balance of probabilities, linking the murder to rogue young Palestinian militants. It is a fair minded work, concentrating on the cultural storm surrounding archaeology in the region. Fox points out quite convincingly the importance of archaeology as a handle to crank out authenticity certificates for the many cultures of the region. The paranoiac sense of two communities under siege and fearful of every aspect of each other's existence and intentions is drawn carefully and with scrupulous regard for opposing views. Some measure of Fox's commitment to unearthing the facts of the matter is conveyed by his sojourning in the occupied terrorities for several months while investigating the various accounts of the murder.The subject of the book is notionally Glock, but he is a tragic bit player in terms of the overall thrust of the book. He is portrayed as a man of uneviable character. Socially impaired in his understanding of people and indifferent to other points of view. These traits, it is conjectured, are ultimately what contribued to his demise.If the work has any dissatisfying structure it must be the way itis hurried along somewhat to a conclusion. We are given tantalisingly frustrating glimpses of the actions of people inth months leading up to Glock's murder, but never enough to stand up a prolonged analysis. The book is pool of tragic stories and uncertain endings retold in the prose of a quiet factuality. Don't pass over the opportunity to read it.

An important topic

A fantastic book that outlines the field of Palestinian archeology. How successive generations of the decendents of Ka'annan lived off the same land. How history destroys a people when it is written by outsiders & unchallenged for 2000 years & finally adopted in tragic irony by the very people it eventually dispossesses. It is therefore fitting that the founder of Palestinian archeology, Albert Glock, is a non-Palestinian who was probably murdered by a Palestinian. Face the facts: the Israelis didn't do it. It is the obscurantism of religion that is at the heart of the Palestinian problem, of the "Holy Land" Archeology problem and the murder of Albert Glock.

Pious Biblical Archaeology Is Not Just A Cultural Lag

Fox's severe comments on the biblicism perpetuated by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and some protestant denominations trenchently remind us that pious ignorance can be invidious. Reading the biblical text as religious testimony rather than history has been taught by scholars for most of the past century! Yet the perpetually purblind have influenced too much of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict over whose land this is! The dangerous politics of archaeological hegemony is clear in this investigation into the assassination of Dr. Albert Glock in January of 1992. Who did it? The book's insight is monumental.