Photographing Biblical Modernity
Frank Scholten in British Mandate Palestine
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publishing:22nd Jan '26
£85.00
This title is due to be published on 22nd January, and will be despatched as soon as possible.

A Queer European photographer’s representation of and shaping by Palestinian society in the years the British Mandate was established.
This open access book offers the first in-depth appraisal of the photographic archive of Frank Scholten (1881–1942), a queer Dutch photographer and Catholic convert whose work in Palestine between 1921 and 1923 provides a remarkable lens on the intersecting dynamics of modernity, religion, colonialism, and visual culture. Drawing on over 26,000 photographs, it situates Scholten’s work within transnational religious, colonial, and nationalist networks.
Employing a relational methodology, Photographing Biblical Modernity treats photography not merely as visual documentation but as a site of layered cultural encounters shaped by the movements of people, ideas, and ideologies. It interrogates biblical visuality, the performance of indigeneity, intercommunal relations, and the gendered politics of labour and nationalism.
Through interdisciplinary engagement with visual culture, Middle East studies, and gender theory, this book considers how Scholten’s positionality offers insights into both the granular details of Palestinian society and broader macro-historical shifts during a period of profound transition.
Rather than framing Palestine as a biblical relic, Scholten’s photographs reveal a socially and politically complex society under early British Mandate rule. Ultimately, this book positions Scholten’s archive as a vital historical source for understanding the layered and contested narratives that have defined Palestine’s modern history.
The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.
Scholten must trembling in his grave, not out of indignation, but from exuberance and excitement over this critical and astute recognition of the grandeur of his unfinished work—just over a hundred years since he and his cameras set foot into Palestine just after the end of the Ottoman era and WWI. This book is bound to become the definitive study of Scholten and his world. * Salim Tamari, Professor, Birzeit University, Palestine *
ISBN: 9780755650538
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
256 pages