(Ebook) The Oxford History of the Holy Land by Robert G. Hoyland, H. G. M Williamson ISBN 9780192886866, 019288686X

(Ebook) The Oxford History of the Holy Land by Robert G. Hoyland, H. G. M Williamson ISBN 9780192886866, 019288686X

Different names and geographical definitions bedevil the history of thispart of the world and none can do justice to the sweep of what we have setout to describe in the present volume. Precisely for that reason we havedeliberately chosen the title Holy Land, a familiar name which has neverfeatured on any map worth its salt. It serves to indicate that our intentionhere is far from political—and that is one good reason why we have called ahalt in our historical survey at just the point where Lloyd George wasclarifying his thoughts on the post-war settlement. But just as we havestopped short of the modern era, so we have not included anything aboutthe thousands of years of occupation which preceded the biblical period.The Carmel Caves, for instance, have yielded evidence of some of theearliest human occupation known worldwide, a testimony to thegeographical centrality of the region as a link between Africa and Europe.Jericho has often been called the word’s first city, and archaeology hasrevealed much about human occupation throughout the millennia sincethen.The Holy Land, however, conjures up an approach to territory which ismore cultural, and specifically religious, than political, however closelyintertwined the two were until relatively recently.Our hope is that all may nevertheless learn from, as well as enjoy, thissummary of current understanding, and that through such understandingappreciation of what each of the faiths had to offer may be deepenedwithout the hostile fragmentation which has characterized much of thehistory we trace here and which still, sadly, is prevalent in the modernworld.