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.