The End of the Semites

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    9 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    There is a huge literature on the Western European concept of the Semites, which posited that Jews and Arabs belonged to a single race. This is the first essay to argue that this racial idea was at base theological, and for this reason possessed an inner fragility, in which the Jew and the Arab were always conceived differently. The theological essence of the Semitic idea was the reason why ultimately this notion, which was of tremendous influence in Europe and Western Asia, fell from grace so quickly from the 1930s. In short, the argument of the essay provides an entirely new history of the Semite located in political theology, which changes the chronology and dynamics of its rise and fall. Finally, the article integrates the intellectual history of Western Europe with that of European empire in Western Asia, which Edward Said attempted, but without the use of imperial archives. The essay also offers a new explanation of why antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe splintered in the 20th century. More broadly, it is intended as a contribution to the wave of scholarship in recent years that argues for the Christianity of European modernity.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationAntisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe
    Subtitle of host publicationA Shared Story?
    EditorsJames Renton, Ben Gidley
    Place of PublicationLondon
    PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
    Pages99-140
    Number of pages42
    ISBN (Electronic)9781137413024
    ISBN (Print)978-3-319-42600-6, 9781137413000
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 5 Apr 2017

    Keywords

    • Semite
    • racism
    • Orientalism
    • empire
    • antisemitism
    • Islamophobia

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