This volume represents the final publication of the European Seminar in Historical Methodology. The volume reflects on the ground-breaking work of this prestigious seminar in the field of biblical history. In part one, long-term members of the seminar (Bob Becking, Ehud Ben Zvi, Philip R. Davies, Ernst Axel Knauf, Niels Peter Lemche, Thomas L Thompson) provide reflections on its work. Part two presents an opportunity for readers to benefit from contributions that have remained heretofore unpublished. This includes material on the Persian period, questions of orality and writing, and contributions on the Maccabean period. Bringing these papers together in a published form provides a fitting way to round out the work of this significant endeavour in historical methodology.

This Symposium asks whether a 'history of Israel' can be written, and if it can, how? Can the Hebrew Bible be used as a source for such history? The question of writing the 'history of ancient Israel' has become fiercely debated in recent years. It is a debate that seems to generate more heat than light because of quite different concepts of historical methodology. The European Seminar on Methodology in Israel's History was founded specifically to address this problem. Members of the Seminar hold a variety of views but all agree that there is a problem to be tackled. The first meeting of the Seminar, held in Dublin in 1996, was devoted to some broad questions: (1) Can a 'history of ancient Israel' (or Palestine, Syria, the Levant, etc.) be written? (2) If so, how? What place does the Hebrew Bible have as a source in writing this history? This first volume contains the main papers that were prepared to set the stage for the discussion, along with an introduction to the Seminar, its aims and its membership. The editor also provides a concluding chapter summarizing and reflecting on the debate.

This volume provides a series of contributions on the crucial aspects relating to the Bible and the Late Bronze Age period. The volume is introduced with a background essay surveying the main areas of history and current scholarship relating to Late Bronze Age Palestine and to the Egyptian New Kingdom (Dynasties 18-20) domination of the region, as well as the question of the biblical account of the same geographical area and historical period. Specific chapters address a range of key concerns: the history of Egypt's dealing with Canaan is surveyed in chapters by Grabbe and Dijkstra. The Amarna texts are also dealt with by Lemche, Mayes and Grabbe. The archaeology is surveyed by van der Steen. The Merenptah Stela mentioning Israel is of considerable interest and is discussed especially by Dijkstra. This leads on to the burning question of the origins of Israel which several of the contributors address. Another issue is whether the first Israelite communities practised egalitarianism, an issue taken up by Guillaume, with a response by Kletter.

When methodology relating to the history of ancient Israel is discussed, the issue of historiography is frequently injected into the debate. This includes both principles of writing history from a modern perspective and also historiography as it relates to ancient writings. The first part of this most recent volume in the European Seminar in Historical Methodology series contains essays on historiography, including such well-known scholars as Ehud Ben Zvi, Philip Davies, and Axel Knauf. The second part is made up of reviews of histories of Israel or related works by such writers as William Dever, Baruch Halpern, Steven McKenzie, Mario Liverani, Alberto Soggin, Lester Grabbe, Jens Bruun Kofoed, and Iain Provan, V. Phillips Long, and Tremper Longman, III. Reviewers include Rainer Albertz, Niels Peter Lemche, Joseph Blenkinsopp, Philip Davies, Bob Becking, Ehud Ben Zvi, and Lester Grabbe. The original authors had the opportunity to respond to the reviews, while the editor provides an introduction that summarizes the various contributions and a conclusion that provides personal reflections on the debate.

This tightly focused collection of essays, from an invited seminar of international specialists, centres on the question of the apocalyptic worldview around the time of the Maccabean revolt. What was the nature of apocalyptic at this time? Did the Maccabees themselves have a distinct apocalyptic worldview? These questions lead to other, more specific queries: who of the various groups held such a view? Certain of the essays analyse the characteristics of the apocalypses and related literature in this period, and whether the apocalyptic worldview itself gave rise to historical events or, at least, influenced them. The collection begins with two introductory essays. Both the main and short papers have individual responses, and two considered responses by well-known experts address the entire collection. The volume finishes with a concluding chapter by the lead editor that gives a perspective on the main themes and conclusions arising from the papers and discussion.