RELS 32, Blog Post #3

Pejovic Ivan

                                           The Book of Enoch (The lost book of the bible)

For this blog I decided to write about a mythical text that was revered by Jews and Christians alike but fell into disfavor among early theologians, because of its controversial description of the nature and deeds of the fallen angels. Thus, The book of Enoch, along with others, such as the Book of Tobias, Esdras and other, were accepted into biblical canon. According to academic experts in religion and early mythology, most books were destroyed and the writings were lost forever, as they did not agree with current doctrines. The Book of Enoch was at one time considered to be among the biblical apocryphal writings by the early Church fathers. The word ‘apocryphal’ was derived from the Greek for ‘hidden’, or ‘secret’.  

It was a complementary term, and when applied to sacred book it meant that their contents were considered too exalted to be made available to the wider public. Gradually the idea was accepted that such books were only to be read by the ‘wise’, (the controllers of belief). However, the term ‘Apocrypha’ began taking on a negative meaning. Believers felt they were being denied the teachings of these books, which were only available to small circles of powerful and influential men. Even the orthodox clergy were not permitted to read the hidden books, because they were thought not to be sufficiently enlightened. Over the centuries the church banned apocryphal material, deeming it heretical, thus forbidding anyone reading from it.

The Book of Enoch was banned as heretical by later Church fathers, as the material infuriated some of them. As a result the book was conveniently lost for a thousands of years. However, eventually it reappeared. Rumors of a surviving copy sent the famous Scottish explorer James Bruce to Ethiopia in search of it. There he found that the Ethiopic church had preserved the book alongside other books of the bible. In this work the spiritual world is minutely described, as is the region of Sheol, the place of the wicked. The book also deals with the history of the fallen angels, their relations with the human race and the foundations of magic.

This is the little cut from The Book of Enoch:

“ ’that there were angels who consented to fall from haven that they might have intercourse with daughters of earth. For in those days the sons of men having multiplied, there were born to them daughters of great beauty. And when the angels, or sons of haven, beheld them, they were filled with desire; wherefore they said to one another: “Come let us choose wives from among the race of man, and let us beget children”.’”

The original text appears to have been written in a Semitic language, now thought to be Aramaic. Though it was once believed to be post-Christian in date, the similarities to Christian terminology and teaching are striking mainly because discoveries of copies of the book among the Dead Sea scroll found at Qumran prove that the book was in the existence before the time of Jesus Christ. Original date of writing is apparently unknown to us.

Many of the key concepts used by Jesus Christ himself seems directly connected to terms and ideas enunciated in the Book of Enoch, so it is thought likely that Jesus had studied the boo, and elaborated on its specific descriptions of the coming kingdom and its theme of inevitable judgment descending upon ‘the wicked’. Also, over a hundred phrases in the New Testament find precedents in the Book of Enoch.    

                  

RELS 32, Blog Post #2 , "The Heliades - The People of the Sun"

RELS 32, Blog Post #2 

Pejovic Ivan

My blog this time should be about Greek myth, precisely about “The Heliades”, or in Greek language “The People of he Sun”.

In Greek mythology, this was a seven-island paradise of the far south, located beyond Ethiopia and India in the Great Ocean stream.  A land of peace and plenty, there was no winter or war, and the isles were rich with forests of ever-fruiting trees.  The inhabitants were beautiful and virtuous, tall and completely hairless except for their heads, chins and brows. The islanders had flexible, rubbery bones, large ears, and split tongues, which allowed them to carry on with two conversations at the same time. They could mimic the sounds of animals and birds, and dressed in rich purple linen robes. The People of the Sun, however, were required to undergo a form of euthanasia at the age of 150. They lay upon magical plant, which brought about a painless, sleep like death. Their lives and bodies were otherwise untouched by death and disease, and accidentally severed limbs could be re-attached by means of magical glue extracted from the blood of the amphisbaena (“According to Greek mythology, the amphisbaena was spawned from the blood that dripped from the Gorgon Medusa's head as Perseus flew over the Libyan Desert with it in his hand”), the magical tortoises that lived on the isles. Each of the seven islands was ruled by a king, the oldest man on the island, who at the age of 150 was succeeded by the next eldest in line. The nation possessed no families, as the children were raised communally, in a way that prohibited all knowledge of parentage.  At birth the infants were placed on the back of a magical bird to determine their spiritual disposition. Those who failed the test were rejected and left in wilderness to die.